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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. cell — a phone
  3. game — a match
  4. court — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. clip — a video
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. court — of a king
  10. clip — to cut
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. game — wild animals
  16. court — of law
  17. cell — in biology
  18. clip — for paper
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. bore — to drill
  24. bore — to tire

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