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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: cold · spell · trunk · roll · rash · game · board · snap

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. roll — a cake
  3. board — a committee
  4. game — wild animals
  5. snap — to click
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. cold — not warm
  8. spell — letters
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. rash — hasty
  11. roll — a list
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. cold — an illness
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. game — a match
  22. spell — a short time
  23. board — to get on
  24. spell — magic

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