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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: file · cold · wave · trunk · board · straw · court · rush

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cold — not warm
  3. board — to get on
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. file — a document
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. file — a tool
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. court — of law
  12. cold — an illness
  13. court — for sport
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. board — a committee
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. court — of a king
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. file — a line of people
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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