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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. date — the fruit
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. swing — in golf
  6. spell — letters
  7. sharp — clever
  8. branch — a division
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. track — a song
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. spell — magic
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. track — to keep track
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — to play on
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. spell — a short time
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. mine — for digging
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. track — a path

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