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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 116 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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. tube — the underground
  3. prune — to trim
  4. row — to paddle
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bound — tied together
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. bound — certain
  9. tube — a container
  10. stock — goods
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. content — happy
  13. cold — not warm
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. content — the amount
  17. bound — obliged
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. row — a line
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. stock — shares
  24. tube — in a tire

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