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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. cell — in biology
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. key — in music
  5. key — for a lock
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. key — the most important part
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. bulb — for light
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. cell — a phone
  13. ball — a great time
  14. ball — a dance
  15. shower — to wash
  16. bulb — for light
  17. shower — rain
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mine — for digging

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