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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. snap — to click
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. spell — magic
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. drill — army training
  16. spell — a short time
  17. drill — the tool
  18. chair — a leader
  19. spell — letters
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. wind — moving air
  22. drill — a practice
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chair — to sit on

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