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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: trunk · pop · field · wind · sharp · bat · perch · drill

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pop — soda
  4. perch — the fish
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. wind — moving air
  8. drill — a practice
  9. field — a subject
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. drill — army training
  13. pop — music
  14. field — for sport
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. sharp — clever
  17. drill — the tool
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. bat — the animal
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. pop — to visit
  23. field — farmland
  24. perch — for a bird

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