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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: chest · patient · roll · trunk · fan · stem · swing · spring

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. swing — to play on
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. spring — of water
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. spring — a coil
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. roll — a list
  16. swing — music
  17. spring — the season
  18. roll — a cake
  19. chest — a box
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. swing — in golf

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