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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 116 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: wound · chip · cold · prune · mouse · trunk · kid · tear

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. wound — an injury
  5. tear — to rip
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chip — to eat
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. kid — to tease
  18. prune — to trim
  19. kid — child
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. chip — for betting
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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