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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. lean — to bend
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — temperature
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. race — a contest
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. race — humankind
  13. mine — for digging
  14. cold — not warm
  15. lean — thin
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. degree — an amount
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. swing — music
  20. degree — from a university
  21. swing — to play on
  22. swing — in golf
  23. race — the arms race
  24. trunk — of a car

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