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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: vault · arm · dip · trunk · chest · cold · mine · wake

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. cold — an illness
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. cold — not warm
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. chest — a box
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. vault — a safe
  14. wake — a trail
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. dip — to sink
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. cold — the Cold War

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