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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. field — for sport
  3. march — music
  4. swing — music
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. swing — to play on
  7. wind — moving air
  8. field — farmland
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. march — the month
  11. wind — moving air
  12. board — a committee
  13. march — the month
  14. board — to get on
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. bat — the animal
  18. tube — a container
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. tube — the underground
  22. field — a subject
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. swing — in golf

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