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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: bound · land · snap · wound · branch · trunk · ground · bark

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. land — a country
  4. land — ground
  5. ground — a position
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. bound — obliged
  9. branch — a division
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. bound — tied together
  12. bound — certain
  13. snap — to click
  14. ground — crushed
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. land — to come down
  17. wound — an injury
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. bark — to shout
  21. wound — an injury
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. ground — the earth
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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