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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 120 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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. key — for a lock
  3. clip — to cut
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pitch — completely
  8. key — in music
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bulb — for light
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. chest — a box
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. cold — not warm
  15. clip — a video
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. bulb — for light
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. chest — of your body
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. key — the most important part
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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