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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. spell — a short time
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. spell — letters
  7. file — a line of people
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. spell — magic
  10. bay — a part of the sea
  11. file — a document
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — an illness
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. file — a tool

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com