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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: trunk · ground · content · fork · degree · last · ball · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. cold — an illness
  4. ball — a great time
  5. ball — a dance
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — an amount
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. fork — in a road
  12. ground — crushed
  13. degree — temperature
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. content — the amount
  16. last — final
  17. ground — the earth
  18. content — happy
  19. ground — a position
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. degree — from a university
  22. last — to go on
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. last — finally

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