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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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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: race · date · cold · tube · squash · trunk · court · row

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. court — of a king
  4. race — the arms race
  5. cold — not warm
  6. date — the fruit
  7. cold — an illness
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. tube — a container
  10. race — a contest
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. court — for sport
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. race — humankind
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. court — of law
  22. tube — the underground
  23. squash — to crush
  24. squash — the sport

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