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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 tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. net — for catching
  3. bark — to shout
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. ground — a position
  6. game — a match
  7. game — wild animals
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. net — in sport
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. net — after costs
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. ground — the earth
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. scale — in music
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. branch — a division
  24. ground — crushed

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