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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 120 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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. capital — money
  4. wind — moving air
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. capital — a city
  8. wind — moving air
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. game — wild animals
  11. field — a subject
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. row — a line
  14. foot — a measure
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. field — farmland
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. game — a match
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. field — for sport

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