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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. branch — a division
  3. field — for sport
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. kick — in football
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. hand — help
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — a video
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. clip — to cut
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. field — a subject
  17. deal — to handle
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. field — farmland
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. hand — in cards
  23. mine — for digging
  24. branch — of a tree

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