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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. pop — soda
  3. saw — the tool
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. saw — the tool
  8. tear — to rip
  9. bark — to shout
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pop — music
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — from a university
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. chair — a leader
  19. degree — temperature
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. pop — to visit
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. trunk — of a tree

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