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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 124 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: court · cell · bark · press · chest · trunk

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. press — to push
  3. court — for sport
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. court — of a king
  8. press — a publisher
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cell — a phone
  12. bark — to shout
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. chest — of your body
  15. press — newspapers
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. court — of law
  18. cell — in biology

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