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

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a match
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. squash — to crush
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. plane — a tool
  18. bat — the animal

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