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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 · spring · march · board · kid · ball · net · rule

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. net — after costs
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. spring — the season
  7. kid — child
  8. rule — government
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. spring — of water
  11. ball — a great time
  12. board — a committee
  13. rule — a law
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. board — to get on
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. march — the month
  21. net — in sport
  22. spring — a coil
  23. net — for catching
  24. kid — to tease

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