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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: sharp · cold · trunk · court · cell · lie · race · net

  1. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. lie — an untruth
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — humankind
  6. sharp — clever
  7. cold — an illness
  8. net — after costs
  9. race — the arms race
  10. cold — not warm
  11. net — for catching
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. court — of law
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. net — in sport
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. cell — a phone
  19. lie — to recline
  20. court — of a king
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. cell — in biology
  23. court — for sport
  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