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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 120 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: file · mine · tear · cell · pitcher · trunk · pass · fork

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — for digging
  6. tear — to rip
  7. file — a line of people
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. fork — in a road
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. file — a document
  15. tear — from crying
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. tear — from crying
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. cell — in biology
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. file — a tool
  24. pass — a permit

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