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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: pit · wind · hand · spring · court · wound · chair · trunk

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. spring — a coil
  7. pit — in a race
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. court — of law
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. court — of a king
  15. pit — a hole
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. wind — moving air
  19. spring — the season
  20. wind — moving air
  21. spring — of water
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. chair — a leader
  24. hand — in cards

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