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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: cold · trunk · nail · plane · snap · bat · rule · pass

  1. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. rule — government
  6. pass — a permit
  7. snap — to click
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. rule — a law
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. plane — a tool
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. cold — an illness

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