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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wound — an injury
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. bound — tied together
  5. field — farmland
  6. cold — not warm
  7. rash — a series
  8. field — a subject
  9. spring — a coil
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spring — of water
  14. bound — obliged
  15. rash — hasty
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. spring — the season
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. field — for sport
  22. wound — an injury
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. bound — certain

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