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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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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. bat — the animal
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. season — in sport
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. season — of the year
  8. pound — a weight
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. band — a music group
  11. shower — to wash
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. shower — rain
  14. band — a ring
  15. clip — for paper
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. clip — a video

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