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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 · bark · foot · cold · game · dip · mate · cell

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. cold — not warm
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mate — a friend
  5. foot — a measure
  6. mate — a partner
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. cell — in biology
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cell — a phone
  12. mate — to breed
  13. dip — to sink
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. bark — to shout
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. cold — the Cold War

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