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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. race — the arms race
  5. mark — a trace
  6. spring — of water
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. band — a ring
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spring — the season
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. band — a music group
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. race — humankind
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. spring — a coil
  20. race — a contest
  21. chest — a box
  22. chest — of your body
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. mark — a grade

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