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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pop — music
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. land — ground
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. file — a document
  9. bulb — for light
  10. land — to come down
  11. pop — soda
  12. wound — an injury
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. file — a tool
  16. kid — child
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. pop — to visit
  20. bulb — for light
  21. file — a line of people
  22. land — a country
  23. wound — an injury
  24. trunk — 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