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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. swing — in golf
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. spring — a coil
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. can — to be able to
  8. mine — for digging
  9. can — a tin
  10. cold — an illness
  11. toast — bread
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. swing — music
  14. cold — not warm
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. can — a tin
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. spring — the season
  21. spring — of water
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. swing — to play on

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