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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: season · trunk · plane · kid · wake · cold · swing · lie

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — an illness
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. lie — to recline
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. swing — to play on
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. plane — a tool
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. season — in sport
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. cold — not warm
  18. swing — in golf
  19. wake — a trail
  20. kid — to tease
  21. season — of the year
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. swing — music
  24. plane — in geometry

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