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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 · shower · land · nail · cue · file · game · field

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. game — wild animals
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. cue — for pool
  6. file — a line of people
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. land — ground
  9. cue — a hint
  10. game — a match
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. field — a subject
  13. shower — to wash
  14. land — a country
  15. file — a document
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — for sport
  18. land — to come down
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a tool
  22. shower — rain
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. trunk — of a car

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