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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: bat · chair · wind · row · trunk · mine · fine · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. mine — for digging
  4. fine — all right
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. chair — a leader
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. cell — in biology
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bat — the animal
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. row — a line
  16. row — to paddle
  17. fine — high quality
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. chair — to sit on

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