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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: rush · trunk · snap · cold · wound · bark · file · pass

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. cold — an illness
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. rush — hurry
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bark — to shout
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wound — an injury
  16. file — a document
  17. wound — an injury
  18. file — a tool
  19. file — a line of people
  20. pass — a permit
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. snap — to click

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