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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. prune — to trim
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. mine — for digging
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. drill — a practice
  12. rule — government
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. drill — army training
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — money
  18. rule — a law

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