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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: ground · trunk · wake · mine · drill · prune · march · rash

  1. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. prune — to trim
  3. drill — the tool
  4. drill — army training
  5. ground — crushed
  6. rash — hasty
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. march — music
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — a trail
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. drill — a practice
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. rash — a series
  18. march — the month
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. ground — a position
  21. prune — to trim
  22. ground — the earth
  23. mine — for digging
  24. march — the month

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