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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: bat · sharp · trunk · swing · degree · tube · branch · drill

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. sharp — clever
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. degree — an amount
  7. tube — the underground
  8. branch — a division
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. swing — in golf
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. swing — music
  15. drill — army training
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. drill — a practice
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. drill — the tool
  20. degree — temperature
  21. swing — to play on
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. degree — from a university
  24. tube — a container

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