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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: fan · cell · trunk · spring · row · sharp · pound · hand

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. spring — of water
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. row — a line
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. sharp — clever
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. pound — a weight
  15. hand — help
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. hand — in cards
  18. spring — a coil
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. spring — the season
  22. cell — a phone
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a quarrel

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