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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. cell — a phone
  4. net — in sport
  5. net — for catching
  6. net — after costs
  7. spell — magic
  8. spell — letters
  9. race — the arms race
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — from a university
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. cell — in biology
  15. spell — a short time
  16. snap — to click
  17. race — a contest
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. degree — temperature
  20. race — humankind
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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