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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: pound · cell · ball · key · field · last · trunk · scale

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. key — for a lock
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — a subject
  7. ball — a great time
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. key — in music
  10. cell — a phone
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. ball — a dance
  14. key — the most important part
  15. cell — in biology
  16. last — to go on
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. field — for sport
  20. scale — size or range
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. pound — a weight
  24. last — finally

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