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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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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: fall · trunk · pop · kid · bark · court · game · straw

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. fall — to drop
  3. pop — soda
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. court — of law
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. kid — to tease
  10. pop — to visit
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. pop — music
  13. game — a match
  14. kid — child
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. bark — to shout
  17. fall — the season
  18. court — of a king
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. court — for sport
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. game — wild animals
  24. fall — to drop

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