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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: file · cold · spell · face · bat · trunk · pit · squash

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. pit — a hole
  4. face — to confront
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. face — to point toward
  8. cold — an illness
  9. face — part of the head
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. pit — in a race
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. squash — the sport
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. file — a tool
  19. spell — magic
  20. cold — not warm
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. spell — a short time
  23. file — a document
  24. squash — to crush

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