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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 · arm · stem · fan · cold · wind · content · season

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. wind — moving air
  4. season — in sport
  5. content — happy
  6. cold — an illness
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. stem — to come from
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. season — of the year
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. content — the amount
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — not warm
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. cold — the Cold War

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