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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  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. present — there
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bound — certain
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bound — tied together
  9. bound — obliged
  10. cold — not warm
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. kid — child
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fall — the season
  16. prune — to trim
  17. court — of law
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. present — the time now
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. present — a gift
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — to drop
  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