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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: bat · ball · prune · trunk · bowl · swing · cold · ground

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. prune — to trim
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. ground — crushed
  11. cold — an illness
  12. ball — a great time
  13. cold — not warm
  14. swing — to play on
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. ground — the earth
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. ground — a position
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. swing — music
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. swing — in golf

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