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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. snap — to click
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. cold — an illness
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. drill — army training
  9. dip — to sink
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. spring — a coil
  13. bulb — for light
  14. drill — a practice
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. pit — a hole
  18. bulb — for light
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spring — the season
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. drill — the tool
  23. pit — in a race
  24. spring — of water

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