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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chair — a leader
  5. mine — for digging
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. saw — the tool
  8. ground — a position
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. ground — crushed
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. vault — a safe
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tube — a container
  17. saw — the tool
  18. ground — the earth
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. cold — not warm
  23. tube — the underground
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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