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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. roll — a cake
  4. fine — all right
  5. cold — an illness
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. wake — a trail
  9. cold — not warm
  10. hand — help
  11. wound — an injury
  12. foot — a measure
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. fine — high quality
  17. wound — an injury
  18. hand — in cards
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. roll — a list
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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