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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. drill — the tool
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. mine — for digging
  6. file — a document
  7. field — a subject
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. field — for sport
  10. ball — a great time
  11. field — farmland
  12. drill — army training
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. snap — to click
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. ball — a dance
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a tool
  19. march — music
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. drill — a practice
  22. file — a line of people
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. ball — a round shape

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