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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: wake · bat · trunk · cold · can · content · fork · arm

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. content — happy
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. can — a tin
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. bat — the animal
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. fork — in a road
  12. can — a tin
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. wake — a trail
  18. content — the amount
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. can — to be able to
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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