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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 120 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: race · cell · staff · scale · rule · fork · cold · trunk

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. fork — in a road
  4. race — humankind
  5. scale — size or range
  6. staff — employees
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. race — a contest
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rule — government
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cell — a phone
  15. staff — employees
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cold — not warm
  18. scale — in music
  19. staff — a stick
  20. rule — a law
  21. cold — an illness
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. scale — for weighing

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