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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: wind · trunk · field · land · tube · bat · mine · jam

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Would you like some apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. land — a country
  7. tube — the underground
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. wind — moving air
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — farmland
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. land — ground
  19. field — for sport
  20. bat — the animal
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. mine — for digging
  23. tube — a container
  24. jam — to spread on bread

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