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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: season · calf · pitcher · file · ground · trunk · object · root

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. ground — a position
  7. object — a thing
  8. season — in sport
  9. ground — crushed
  10. file — a document
  11. object — an aim
  12. object — to protest
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. file — a tool
  15. root — of a word
  16. root — the cause
  17. ground — the earth
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. root — of a plant
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. file — a line of people
  24. season — of the year

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