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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: trunk · ball · bark · chest · field · kid · kick · net

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. kid — child
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. field — a subject
  5. bark — to shout
  6. net — in sport
  7. chest — a box
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. ball — a dance
  10. ball — a great time
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. field — for sport
  13. chest — of your body
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — in football
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. chest — of your body
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. field — farmland
  22. kid — to tease
  23. net — for catching
  24. kick — a thrill

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