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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. bat — the animal
  6. spring — a coil
  7. perch — the fish
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. spring — the season
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. scale — in music
  14. spring — of water
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. branch — a division
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. rush — hurry
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. scale — size or range

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