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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: bark · trunk · cold · game · date · scale · land · cabinet

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. date — the fruit
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. scale — size or range
  9. bark — to shout
  10. land — to come down
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. cold — not warm
  14. scale — in music
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. land — ground
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cold — an illness
  23. game — a match
  24. scale — for weighing

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