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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: wound · bat · cold · snap · sharp · hide · face · trunk

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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. snap — to speak sharply
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. snap — to click
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bat — the animal
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. face — part of the head
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. face — to confront
  17. wound — an injury
  18. sharp — clever
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. face — to point toward
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. bat — for baseball
  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