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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 · chest · cell · trunk · coach · clip · rush · race

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. race — the arms race
  3. chest — a box
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rush — hurry
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — humankind
  10. clip — for paper
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. clip — to cut
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. clip — a video
  23. chest — of your body
  24. coach — a trainer

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