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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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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: kid · mate · swing · cold · tube · trunk · perch · jam

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. mate — a partner
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cold — an illness
  7. mate — a friend
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. tube — the underground
  10. swing — in golf
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. kid — to tease
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. cold — not warm
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. kid — child
  19. mate — to breed
  20. tube — a container
  21. perch — the fish
  22. swing — music
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. trunk — of a car

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