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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. press — a publisher
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. land — ground
  6. hand — help
  7. cell — a phone
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. drill — a practice
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. press — to push
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bat — the animal
  16. hand — in cards
  17. press — newspapers
  18. drill — the tool
  19. rash — hasty
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. drill — army training
  22. cell — in biology
  23. rash — a series
  24. bat — for baseball

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