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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 116 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: hand · press · ground · game · field · spell · bat · trunk

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  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. trunk — of an elephant
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. spell — magic
  4. field — a subject
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bat — the animal
  7. ground — a position
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. ground — the earth
  10. spell — letters
  11. ground — crushed
  12. spell — a short time
  13. press — a publisher
  14. press — newspapers
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. game — wild animals
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. hand — help
  21. field — farmland
  22. press — to push
  23. game — a match
  24. field — for sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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