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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 116 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: pit · clip · cold · trunk · wound · rash · rule · rest

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. wound — an injury
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. rest — a break
  5. pit — a hole
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. wound — an injury
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. rest — what's left
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. clip — for paper
  13. rash — hasty
  14. rule — government
  15. clip — a video
  16. rule — a law
  17. rash — a series
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. clip — to cut
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. pit — in a race

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