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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 · date · field · snap · bass · trunk · cap · nail

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. hand — in cards
  3. snap — to click
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. cap — a lid
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cap — a hat
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. bass — low music
  13. field — a subject
  14. cap — of ice
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. date — the fruit
  17. bass — the fish
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. field — for sport
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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