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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: hand · bear · cold · bulb · trunk · land · cabinet · spring

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — ground
  7. bulb — for light
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. spring — the season
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. hand — in cards
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — of water
  17. bear — the animal
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. land — a country
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bear — the animal
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. bulb — for light

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