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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 tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. land — a country
  6. wax — to grow
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. mine — for digging
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. cell — a phone
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. cell — in biology
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. lean — thin
  16. land — ground
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. lean — to bend
  19. land — to come down
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a line
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. mine — belonging to me

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