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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. net — after costs
  4. wound — an injury
  5. lean — thin
  6. net — for catching
  7. lean — to bend
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. tube — a container
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. net — in sport
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. tear — to rip
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. cold — an illness
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. trunk — of a tree

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