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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: wound · last · pop · roll · trunk · wind · cold · bore

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. roll — a list
  4. pop — music
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. wound — an injury
  7. last — final
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. last — to go on
  11. roll — a cake
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. pop — soda
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. last — finally
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. wound — an injury
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bore — to tire
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pop — to visit
  24. bore — to drill

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