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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: trunk · drill · mate · land · row · game · swing · chest

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. drill — a practice
  3. row — a line
  4. drill — the tool
  5. swing — music
  6. land — a country
  7. drill — army training
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. mate — a partner
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. mate — a friend
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. chest — of your body
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. chest — a box
  16. game — a match
  17. row — to paddle
  18. land — to come down
  19. swing — in golf
  20. chest — of your body
  21. mate — to breed
  22. swing — to play on
  23. land — ground
  24. game — wild animals

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