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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. ground — a position
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. bat — the animal
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. tube — a container
  8. field — a subject
  9. ground — the earth
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. tube — the underground
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. row — a line
  15. roll — a cake
  16. field — for sport
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. ground — crushed
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. foot — a measure
  21. row — to paddle
  22. field — farmland
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. roll — a list

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