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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: fall · field · trunk · cold · rest · spell · pitcher · stock

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. spell — magic
  4. fall — the season
  5. fall — to drop
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. cold — an illness
  8. fall — to drop
  9. field — a subject
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. stock — goods
  13. cold — not warm
  14. spell — letters
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stock — shares
  17. field — for sport
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — a break
  21. field — farmland
  22. rest — what's left
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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