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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: cap · cold · ball · shower · bear · cell · mark · trunk

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cap — of ice
  5. shower — to wash
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. ball — a dance
  12. cap — a lid
  13. cell — in biology
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. bear — the animal
  17. mark — a grade
  18. cap — a hat
  19. mark — a trace
  20. bear — the animal
  21. ball — a great time
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. shower — rain
  24. cold — the Cold War

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