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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. spring — of water
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. pop — to visit
  5. court — of law
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. pop — soda
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. roll — a cake
  10. spring — the season
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. march — the month
  13. pop — music
  14. court — for sport
  15. court — of a king
  16. march — the month
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. mine — for digging
  21. march — music
  22. roll — a list
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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