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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. spring — of water
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. spring — a coil
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. chair — a leader
  10. shower — rain
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. march — the month
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. cold — not warm
  18. march — the month
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. march — music
  21. cold — an illness
  22. spring — the season
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. shower — to wash

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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