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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bark — to shout
  7. spell — letters
  8. track — a path
  9. wound — an injury
  10. spell — a short time
  11. track — to keep track
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. spell — magic
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. rush — hurry
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — the animal
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. track — a song

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