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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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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: row · hand · cap · mine · trunk · land · bark · lie

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. row — to paddle
  5. cap — a lid
  6. row — a line
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. land — ground
  9. land — a country
  10. lie — to recline
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. land — to come down
  13. hand — in cards
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. hand — help
  16. cap — a hat
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. mine — for digging
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bark — to shout
  24. cap — of ice

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