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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 120 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're almost out of ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. wound — an injury
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. track — to keep track
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. track — a path
  9. cell — a phone
  10. row — to paddle
  11. cell — in biology
  12. track — a song
  13. pop — to visit
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. file — a tool
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. row — a line
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pop — music

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