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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. net — after costs
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. chair — a leader
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. bat — the animal
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. pound — a weight
  18. bark — to shout
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. net — for catching
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. sharp — clever
  24. net — in sport

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