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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: bowl · wound · wind · trunk · last · race · spell · wake

  1. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. spell — a short time
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wake — a trail
  8. last — final
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. race — the arms race
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. wind — moving air
  13. race — humankind
  14. last — to go on
  15. spell — letters
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. wound — an injury
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. race — a contest
  23. last — finally
  24. spell — magic

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