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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: tube · fan · trunk · cold · bound · stem · court · degree

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. tube — a container
  4. stem — to come from
  5. bound — tied together
  6. bound — obliged
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. degree — temperature
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. court — of law
  12. cold — not warm
  13. degree — from a university
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. degree — an amount
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. court — of a king
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. bound — certain
  22. court — for sport
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. tube — the underground

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