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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 116 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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. wound — an injury
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. file — a line of people
  7. game — a match
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. net — after costs
  12. cell — a phone
  13. game — wild animals
  14. bat — the animal
  15. rock — music
  16. file — a document
  17. net — for catching
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cell — in biology
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. rock — a stone
  22. file — a tool
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. net — in 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