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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. last — to go on
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. last — finally
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pop — soda
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. squash — to crush
  9. pop — to visit
  10. pop — music
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — a video
  16. mine — for digging
  17. squash — the sport
  18. last — final

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