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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: press · pit · cold · tear · march · trunk

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. march — music
  3. tear — to rip
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pit — in a race
  6. tear — from crying
  7. march — the month
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — the month
  11. press — newspapers
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. press — to push
  14. pit — a hole
  15. tear — from crying
  16. press — a publisher
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. cold — not warm

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