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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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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: wake · trunk · field · file · pit · kick · prune · wound

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — in football
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. wound — an injury
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. file — a line of people
  12. prune — to trim
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — a subject
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a tool
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. field — for sport
  22. pit — in a race
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  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