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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: tube · jam · last · trunk · cold · game · sharp · shower

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. last — final
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. cold — an illness
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. game — wild animals
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — not warm
  12. tube — a container
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. game — a match
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. tube — the underground
  21. last — to go on
  22. shower — rain
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. sharp — clever

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