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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. cold — not warm
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pitch — completely
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bulb — for light
  11. chip — to eat
  12. degree — an amount
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chip — for betting
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. craft — a skill
  20. bulb — for light
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — the animal
  23. craft — boats
  24. chip — in a computer

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