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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: staff · chest · club · degree · trunk · band · bat · cap

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. degree — temperature
  7. bat — the animal
  8. band — a music group
  9. club — a group
  10. band — a ring
  11. cap — of ice
  12. staff — employees
  13. cap — a hat
  14. club — for dancing
  15. chest — a box
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cap — a lid
  18. degree — from a university
  19. club — for golf
  20. degree — an amount
  21. chest — of your body
  22. staff — a stick
  23. staff — employees
  24. chest — of your body

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