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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. land — a country
  4. cell — a phone
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. land — ground
  9. cold — an illness
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. bark — to shout
  13. court — of law
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. court — for sport
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. kick — in football
  20. court — of a king
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. cold — not warm
  24. land — to come down

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