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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: stock · trunk · bound · cold · spell · pass · wave · spring

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. spell — letters
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. bound — obliged
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bound — tied together
  13. stock — goods
  14. spell — a short time
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. pass — a permit
  19. stock — shares
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. spell — magic
  22. bound — certain
  23. spring — of water
  24. stock — a soup base

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