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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. kid — to tease
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. track — to keep track
  10. bark — to shout
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. cell — a phone
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. kid — child
  17. deal — to handle
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. plane — a tool
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. cell — in biology
  22. track — a path
  23. track — a song
  24. capital — a city

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