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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. land — ground
  4. land — a country
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. dip — to sink
  8. land — to come down
  9. cell — a phone
  10. bear — the animal
  11. chest — a box
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bore — to tire
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. bear — the animal
  20. bore — to drill
  21. chest — of your body
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cold — the Cold War

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