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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: toast · trunk · chest · fork · cold · swing · scale · ground

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. ground — the earth
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. ground — crushed
  6. swing — in golf
  7. swing — to play on
  8. ground — a position
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. chest — of your body
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. scale — size or range
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chest — of your body
  16. swing — music
  17. cold — an illness
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. toast — bread
  21. fork — in a road
  22. scale — in music
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. fork — a garden tool

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