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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: dip · roll · trunk · coach · march · mine · cold · face

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. roll — a cake
  3. march — the month
  4. dip — to sink
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. roll — a list
  13. face — to point toward
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — not warm
  16. face — to confront
  17. march — the month
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. face — part of the head
  22. cold — an illness
  23. march — music
  24. mine — for digging

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