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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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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: ruler · spring · cold · plane · trunk · lie · kid · race

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. race — the arms race
  4. kid — to tease
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. race — humankind
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. cold — not warm
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. plane — a tool
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. spring — the season
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — of water
  18. lie — to recline
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. race — a contest
  24. cold — an illness

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