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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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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: ball · wind · bulb · trunk · land · cold · lean · cap

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. land — a country
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. lean — to bend
  5. bulb — for light
  6. cap — a lid
  7. cap — of ice
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. ball — a great time
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. cold — an illness
  17. land — to come down
  18. ball — a dance
  19. land — ground
  20. lean — thin
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cold — not warm
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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