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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: rule · cabinet · trunk · mouse · row · spring · wound · cold

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. spring — the season
  3. row — a line
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. spring — of water
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. wound — an injury
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. wound — an injury
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. rule — government
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. rule — a law
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. spring — a coil

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