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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. craft — boats
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. land — ground
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. last — to go on
  9. land — to come down
  10. land — a country
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. last — final
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. craft — a skill
  21. cold — an illness
  22. last — finally
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — child

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