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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: cell · stem · straw · land · hand · trunk · wave · march

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. cell — a phone
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. stem — to come from
  7. land — a country
  8. hand — in cards
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — ground
  18. hand — help
  19. cell — in biology
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. march — the month
  24. straw — a straw man

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