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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 120 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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wind — moving air
  4. fine — all right
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — moving air
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. fine — high quality
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. season — of the year
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. stem — to come from
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. chest — a box
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. season — in sport
  23. chest — of your body
  24. season — to add flavour

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