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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 116 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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. scale — in music
  3. dip — to sink
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. hand — help
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. race — a contest
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. race — the arms race
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. chair — a leader
  19. scale — size or range
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. race — humankind
  22. hand — in cards
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. cold — the Cold War

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