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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — a coil
  4. court — for sport
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. court — of a king
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. current — of water
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. field — a subject
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. kid — child
  14. court — of law
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. kid — to tease
  17. current — happening now
  18. field — for sport
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. field — farmland
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. spring — of water
  24. current — electric

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