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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: trunk · kid · pitcher · bark · squash · land · snap · stem

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. squash — the sport
  4. land — to come down
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. squash — to crush
  8. kid — to tease
  9. snap — to click
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. land — ground
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — child
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. stem — to come from
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. land — a country
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. bark — to shout
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. bark — of a tree

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