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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: court · wound · mine · hand · perch · roll · pass · trunk

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. wound — an injury
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. roll — a cake
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. wound — an injury
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. roll — a list
  15. court — of law
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. perch — the fish
  19. hand — in cards
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. court — of a king
  22. court — for sport
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. pass — a permit

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