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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 120 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: shower · trunk · scale · bear · ruler · court · bat · clip

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. court — of law
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. bear — the animal
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. scale — size or range
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. bear — the animal
  10. court — of a king
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. scale — in music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — to cut
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. court — for sport
  19. shower — rain
  20. clip — a video
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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