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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: mine · field · trunk · game · ground · stem · hand · press

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. ground — the earth
  4. stem — to come from
  5. press — to push
  6. hand — in cards
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. field — a subject
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. press — a publisher
  12. game — a match
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. field — for sport
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. press — newspapers
  18. ground — crushed
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. field — farmland
  21. mine — for digging
  22. game — wild animals
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. ground — a position

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