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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: march · trunk · hand · cold · ground · shower · cell · object

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. march — music
  3. hand — help
  4. march — the month
  5. object — to protest
  6. ground — a position
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in biology
  10. ground — the earth
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — not warm
  15. march — the month
  16. object — a thing
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. shower — rain
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. object — an aim
  22. ground — crushed
  23. shower — to wash
  24. hand — in cards

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