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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. clip — for paper
  5. field — farmland
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. field — a subject
  11. bass — the fish
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. tube — a container
  14. bass — low music
  15. clip — a video
  16. mine — for digging
  17. field — for sport
  18. clip — to cut

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