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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. spring — a coil
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. club — a group
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. club — for golf
  10. wound — an injury
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. degree — an amount
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. spring — of water
  15. chair — a leader
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wound — an injury
  18. hand — help
  19. spring — the season
  20. hand — in cards
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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