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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 thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. band — a ring
  4. stem — to come from
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. season — in sport
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. season — of the year
  11. cold — not warm
  12. band — a music group
  13. cell — a phone
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — an illness
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — for digging
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. cell — in biology

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