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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: drill · cold · snap · trunk · wound · bass · wind · lie

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bass — low music
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. cold — not warm
  9. drill — the tool
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wound — an injury
  15. drill — a practice
  16. wound — an injury
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. lie — to recline
  20. bass — the fish
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. snap — to click
  23. drill — army training
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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