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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: field · wound · mine · trunk · sharp · snap · swing · season

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. swing — to play on
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. mine — for digging
  9. field — a subject
  10. snap — to click
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — in sport
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. swing — in golf
  17. field — for sport
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. swing — music
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. field — farmland
  22. sharp — clever
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — an injury

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