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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: club · track · chest · board · pop · mine · trunk · cold

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. pop — soda
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. track — a path
  6. chest — a box
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. board — to get on
  9. pop — to visit
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. club — a group
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chest — of your body
  15. board — a committee
  16. chest — of your body
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. club — for golf
  19. pop — music
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. club — for dancing
  22. mine — for digging
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. track — a song

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