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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: track · bark · net · straw · trunk · spring · pitcher · wound

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. track — to keep track
  3. net — after costs
  4. track — a song
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. bark — to shout
  8. wound — an injury
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. spring — the season
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. net — in sport
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. wound — an injury
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. net — for catching
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. spring — of water
  23. track — a path
  24. spring — a coil

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