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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: cabinet · fork · trunk · chest · cold · racket · kick · land

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. chest — of your body
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. kick — in football
  7. chest — of your body
  8. fork — in a road
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. chest — a box
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. land — ground
  21. cold — an illness
  22. land — a country
  23. land — to come down
  24. kick — with a leg

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