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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. chair — a leader
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. ball — a dance
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. drill — army training
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. drill — the tool
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. drill — a practice
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. mine — belonging to me

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