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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. land — to come down
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. land — ground
  7. scale — in music
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — to rip
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. pit — in a race
  14. scale — size or range
  15. fork — in a road
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. hand — help
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. land — a country
  20. hand — in cards
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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