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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 120 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: perch · pit · mine · key · tube · cold · trunk · mate

  1. This piece is in a major ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. key — in music
  2. mine — for digging
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. key — the most important part
  5. pit — a hole
  6. mate — to breed
  7. key — for a lock
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. pit — in a race
  11. mate — a friend
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mate — a partner
  16. perch — the fish
  17. tube — a container
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. tube — the underground
  24. trunk — of a tree

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