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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. game — wild animals
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. tear — from crying
  5. game — a match
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. ball — a dance
  8. band — a ring
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. hand — help
  11. pitch — completely
  12. tear — from crying
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. ball — a great time
  18. branch — a division
  19. tear — to rip
  20. band — a music group
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. hand — in cards

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