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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: hand · file · scale · trunk · row · bowl · bass · prune

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. scale — size or range
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. file — a tool
  5. bass — the fish
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. row — a line
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. prune — to trim
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. prune — to trim
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bass — low music
  19. row — to paddle
  20. scale — in music
  21. hand — help
  22. hand — in cards
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a line of people

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