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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. cold — an illness
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. season — in sport
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. stem — to come from
  7. cold — not warm
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. shower — rain
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. shower — to wash
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. file — a line of people
  15. season — of the year
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. file — a document
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. vault — a safe
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  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