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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: trunk · cue · ground · mine · cold · wound · race · mouse

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. ground — crushed
  3. ground — the earth
  4. wound — an injury
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. cue — for pool
  7. wound — an injury
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. race — the arms race
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cue — a hint
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — humankind
  20. cue — a signal
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. mine — for digging

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