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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. bore — to drill
  5. row — a line
  6. file — a tool
  7. land — ground
  8. wound — an injury
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. file — a document
  13. land — to come down
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. land — a country
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. bore — to tire
  19. mine — for digging
  20. row — to paddle
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. file — a line of people
  23. wound — an injury
  24. mine — an explosive

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