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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: degree · hand · cold · wake · nail · face · ground · trunk

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. cold — an illness
  4. ground — crushed
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. hand — in cards
  7. ground — the earth
  8. face — to confront
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. face — part of the head
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. ground — a position
  16. cold — not warm
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. hand — help
  19. degree — from a university
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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