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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: sharp · root · cell · rash · trunk · court · spring · cold

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. court — of law
  4. cell — in biology
  5. court — of a king
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. spring — the season
  8. root — of a plant
  9. rash — hasty
  10. root — the cause
  11. rash — a series
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. root — of a word
  15. spring — a coil
  16. sharp — clever
  17. cold — an illness
  18. court — for sport
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in a prison

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