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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 124 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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. court — for sport
  6. spring — of water
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. cold — not warm
  9. spring — a coil
  10. drill — the tool
  11. season — in sport
  12. drill — army training
  13. court — of a king
  14. court — of law
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. season — of the year
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. spring — the season

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