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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 116 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: trunk · cell · pound · sharp · racket · kick · shower · field

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pound — a weight
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. sharp — clever
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. cell — in biology
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. cell — a phone
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — for sport
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. kick — in football
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. shower — rain

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