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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: cold · pass · bat · spring · race · toast · trunk · cell

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. cell — a phone
  7. pass — a permit
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cell — in biology
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. toast — bread
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. spring — the season
  15. race — humankind
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. race — a contest
  18. bat — the animal
  19. race — the arms race
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. spring — of water
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pass — to succeed

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