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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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Word bank
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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: trunk · mouse · tear · bulb · cold · date · chest · pitcher

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. tear — from crying
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. cold — an illness
  9. date — the fruit
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — a box
  15. bulb — for light
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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