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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 120 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 · land · net · cold · mine · bowl · lean · field

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. land — a country
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. net — in sport
  6. land — ground
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. mine — for digging
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. land — to come down
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. field — for sport
  14. lean — to bend
  15. field — farmland
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. net — for catching
  18. cold — an illness
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. lean — thin
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. cold — not warm
  24. field — a subject

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