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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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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 · hand · last · ground · club · trunk · cell · game

  1. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. ground — crushed
  4. club — for dancing
  5. club — for golf
  6. file — a tool
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. cell — in biology
  10. game — wild animals
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. ground — a position
  13. last — final
  14. ground — the earth
  15. hand — help
  16. hand — in cards
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a document
  20. cell — a phone
  21. club — a group
  22. last — finally
  23. game — a match
  24. last — to go on

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