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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. mate — to breed
  4. present — a gift
  5. cold — an illness
  6. land — ground
  7. drill — army training
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. prune — to trim
  10. drill — the tool
  11. vault — a safe
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. mate — a partner
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. present — the time now
  17. prune — to trim
  18. drill — a practice
  19. mate — a friend
  20. present — there
  21. land — to come down
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. land — a country

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