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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: swing · wound · trunk · kick · scale · dip · last · straw

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. swing — in golf
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. last — final
  6. last — finally
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. swing — to play on
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. last — to go on
  12. kick — in football
  13. wound — an injury
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — size or range
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wound — an injury
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. swing — music
  24. dip — to sink

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