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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 116 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 · wind · bore · bat · pop · wound · field · kid

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. bore — to drill
  3. bore — to tire
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. wound — an injury
  6. kid — child
  7. pop — soda
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. field — farmland
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pop — to visit
  13. field — a subject
  14. bat — the animal
  15. wind — moving air
  16. field — for sport
  17. wound — an injury
  18. kid — to tease
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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