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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 120 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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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: snap · bat · trunk · band · leaves · kid · hide · cell

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. band — a music group
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cell — in biology
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. cell — a phone
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. kid — child
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. snap — to click
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. band — a ring
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — for baseball

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