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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. bound — certain
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. row — a line
  9. chip — for betting
  10. chip — to eat
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. bound — obliged
  14. bound — tied together
  15. spring — of water
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. bark — to shout
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. row — to paddle
  20. spring — the season
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. spring — a coil
  24. kid — child

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