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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 120 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 · bat · mine · key · trunk · cue · rock · lash

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. cue — a signal
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. key — the most important part
  5. cue — for pool
  6. cue — a hint
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. rock — a stone
  10. key — in music
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. rock — music
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. key — for a lock
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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