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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: racket · game · staff · pop · trunk · field · wind · straw

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. staff — employees
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. pop — to visit
  6. wind — moving air
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. field — farmland
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. pop — soda
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. game — a match
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. wind — moving air
  22. pop — music
  23. staff — a stick
  24. staff — employees

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