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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: tear · swing · hide · straw · trunk · last · prune · game

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. prune — to trim
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. prune — to trim
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. game — wild animals
  7. swing — music
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. tear — from crying
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. tear — to rip
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. last — final
  15. game — a match
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. last — to go on
  19. tear — from crying
  20. last — finally
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. swing — to play on
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. swing — in golf

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