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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. court — for sport
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. march — the month
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. sharp — clever
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. court — of law
  12. march — music
  13. bat — the animal
  14. tube — the underground
  15. tube — a container
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. march — the month
  20. court — of a king
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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