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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 116 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: content · trunk · drill · tear · hide · cold · court · bulb

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. content — happy
  3. drill — a practice
  4. cold — an illness
  5. drill — the tool
  6. drill — army training
  7. tear — to rip
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. bulb — for light
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bulb — for light
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. court — of law
  20. tear — from crying
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. cold — not warm
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. bulb — of a plant

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