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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. wound — an injury
  3. land — to come down
  4. chest — a box
  5. rash — a series
  6. file — a document
  7. can — to be able to
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. file — a line of people
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. land — ground
  13. wound — an injury
  14. can — a tin
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. land — a country
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. rash — hasty
  21. file — a tool
  22. can — a tin
  23. capital — money
  24. capital — a city

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