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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 116 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: chair · trunk · mine · fork · scale · fall · tear · wind

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. fall — to drop
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — for digging
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. fall — to drop
  9. scale — in music
  10. chair — a leader
  11. fall — the season
  12. tear — from crying
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. scale — size or range
  15. wind — moving air
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wind — moving air
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. fork — in a road
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. scale — for weighing

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