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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: present · bass · content · wound · pitcher · cold · trunk · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. cold — an illness
  3. present — the time now
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. content — happy
  12. content — the amount
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. bass — the fish
  15. cell — in biology
  16. bass — low music
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. present — a gift
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cold — not warm
  22. present — there
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. bass — the instrument

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