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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. track — a song
  3. mine — for digging
  4. prune — to trim
  5. vault — a safe
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. prune — to trim
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cold — not warm
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. cold — an illness
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. track — to keep track
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — moving air
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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