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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. can — to be able to
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. can — a tin
  9. wound — an injury
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. chip — to eat
  12. chip — for betting
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. stock — shares
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. stock — goods
  17. plane — a tool
  18. cold — not warm
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. can — a tin
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — rain

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