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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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468
Word bank
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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. object — to protest
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. wound — an injury
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. cold — an illness
  8. tear — to rip
  9. spring — the season
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — a coil
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. tear — from crying
  14. wind — moving air
  15. spring — of water
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. cold — not warm
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. object — an aim
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wound — an injury
  24. object — a thing

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