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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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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: field · bat · rock · trunk · wake · ground · wound · lean

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. field — farmland
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. rock — a stone
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. bat — the animal
  7. field — a subject
  8. ground — crushed
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. lean — thin
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wound — an injury
  14. ground — the earth
  15. rock — music
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. wound — an injury
  20. lean — to bend
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. ground — a position
  24. field — for sport

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