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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: trunk · tube · tear · game · mate · kid · spell · ground

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. ground — crushed
  3. kid — to tease
  4. tear — to rip
  5. spell — a short time
  6. mate — to breed
  7. tube — a container
  8. game — a match
  9. spell — letters
  10. mate — a partner
  11. tear — from crying
  12. mate — a friend
  13. spell — magic
  14. tube — the underground
  15. ground — a position
  16. tear — from crying
  17. ground — the earth
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. game — wild animals
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. tube — in a tire

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