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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: stand · trunk · wound · ground · file · bat · land · rush

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. rush — hurry
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. ground — the earth
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. ground — crushed
  7. land — to come down
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. land — a country
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. stand — to bear
  15. wound — an injury
  16. file — a document
  17. bat — the animal
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. land — ground
  21. ground — a position
  22. wound — an injury
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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