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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cold — an illness
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. spring — the season
  12. kick — in football
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. spring — a coil
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bat — the animal
  22. spring — of water
  23. wound — an injury
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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