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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. ball — a dance
  3. field — a subject
  4. mine — for digging
  5. spell — a short time
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. spell — letters
  10. field — for sport
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. bark — to shout
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. ball — a great time
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. field — farmland
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. wax — to grow
  22. spell — magic
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. wax — in the ear

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