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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. land — to come down
  3. can — to be able to
  4. hand — in cards
  5. file — a line of people
  6. bank — of a river
  7. bank — for money
  8. land — a country
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. file — a tool
  12. cell — a phone
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. can — a tin
  15. hand — help
  16. file — a document
  17. chip — for betting
  18. land — ground
  19. bank — for money
  20. chip — to eat
  21. can — a tin
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chip — in a computer

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