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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.

Make a worksheet

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: wind · rash · sharp · key · chair · cold · stock · trunk

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — moving air
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. chair — a leader
  7. rash — a series
  8. key — for a lock
  9. rash — hasty
  10. stock — goods
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. sharp — clever
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. stock — shares
  23. cold — an illness
  24. key — in music

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