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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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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: plane · cold · key · foot · spring · trunk · pop · drill

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. key — for a lock
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. cold — an illness
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. key — the most important part
  10. pop — music
  11. drill — army training
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. foot — a measure
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. cold — not warm
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. pop — to visit
  19. drill — the tool
  20. spring — a coil
  21. plane — a tool
  22. drill — a practice
  23. key — in music
  24. foot — part of the body

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