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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 · land · trunk · fall · current · sharp · roll · bark

  1. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. current — electric
  3. land — to come down
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. bark — to shout
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. fall — the season
  10. cold — not warm
  11. roll — a cake
  12. land — a country
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. sharp — clever
  16. roll — a list
  17. fall — to drop
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. fall — to drop
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. current — happening now
  23. cold — an illness
  24. land — ground

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