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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. land — a country
  8. land — ground
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. land — to come down
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. tube — a container
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tube — the underground
  20. perch — the fish
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cold — an illness

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