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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: snap · bark · plane · spring · wind · cell · hand · trunk

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. cell — a phone
  4. snap — to click
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. spring — of water
  7. bark — to shout
  8. cell — in biology
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. wind — moving air
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. hand — in cards
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. spring — the season
  22. spring — a coil
  23. plane — a tool
  24. plane — an aircraft

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