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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: wound · club · track · swing · bark · shower · trunk · spell

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. club — for dancing
  3. wound — an injury
  4. spell — magic
  5. spell — a short time
  6. wound — an injury
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. club — a group
  9. bark — to shout
  10. track — a song
  11. track — a path
  12. swing — music
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. club — for golf
  15. swing — to play on
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. track — to keep track
  23. swing — in golf
  24. shower — rain

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