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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. cell — a phone
  5. object — to protest
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. mate — a partner
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cell — in biology
  11. land — a country
  12. land — ground
  13. wind — moving air
  14. mate — a friend
  15. object — a thing
  16. object — an aim
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. mate — to breed
  19. band — a ring
  20. wind — moving air
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. land — to come down
  23. band — a music group
  24. trunk — of a tree

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