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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 · tube · squash · degree · file · stem · wound · ground

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. stem — to come from
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. tube — a container
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. wound — an injury
  7. squash — the sport
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. file — a document
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. tube — the underground
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. ground — crushed
  16. ground — a position
  17. file — a line of people
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. file — a tool
  20. wound — an injury
  21. squash — to crush
  22. ground — the earth
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. degree — from a university

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