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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. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — in geometry
  2. file — a line of people
  3. wound — an injury
  4. file — a tool
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. plane — a tool
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chest — a box
  9. spell — letters
  10. band — a music group
  11. cold — not warm
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. chest — of your body
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. chest — of your body
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wound — an injury
  20. spell — magic
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. file — a document
  24. band — a ring

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