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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. kid — to tease
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. can — a tin
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. can — to be able to
  9. field — farmland
  10. land — a country
  11. cold — an illness
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. field — a subject
  14. kid — child
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. field — for sport
  18. bark — to shout
  19. land — to come down
  20. can — a tin
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. land — ground
  24. bark — of a tree

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