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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: cold · hand · fall · pop · snap · land · object · trunk

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. pop — to visit
  3. object — a thing
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. land — ground
  6. hand — help
  7. pop — soda
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pop — music
  11. fall — the season
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. fall — to drop
  14. snap — to click
  15. fall — to drop
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. object — to protest
  18. land — to come down
  19. land — a country
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. object — an aim
  24. cold — an illness

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