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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 120 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. cold — not warm
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. chip — for betting
  11. tube — a container
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. degree — temperature
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. shower — rain
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. tube — the underground
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. chip — to eat
  20. degree — from a university
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. degree — an amount
  23. shower — to wash
  24. chip — in a computer

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