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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. saw — the tool
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. degree — an amount
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. shower — rain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. shower — to wash
  14. fine — high quality
  15. fine — all right
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. degree — from a university
  19. saw — the tool
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tube — a container
  24. wind — moving air

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