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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 120 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: land · cue · ball · trunk · kid · pop · dip · cold

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cold — not warm
  4. land — ground
  5. cue — a hint
  6. land — to come down
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. pop — to visit
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. dip — to sink
  11. pop — soda
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. land — a country
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cue — a signal
  19. cue — for pool
  20. pop — music
  21. ball — a great time
  22. kid — child
  23. ball — a dance
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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