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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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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: chest · cold · spell · wind · trunk · degree · safe · present

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. degree — an amount
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chest — a box
  7. wind — moving air
  8. degree — temperature
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. present — there
  12. degree — from a university
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. present — a gift
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. present — the time now
  23. spell — letters
  24. cold — not warm

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