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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a ring
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. saw — the tool
  12. root — of a plant
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — in cards
  15. root — the cause
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. root — of a word
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. plane — a tool
  22. band — a music group
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. saw — the tool

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