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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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. season — in sport
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. cell — in biology
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. file — a line of people
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. season — of the year
  10. bound — obliged
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. clip — a video
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — a phone
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. file — a document
  18. clip — to cut
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. wake — a trail
  21. bound — certain
  22. file — a tool
  23. bound — tied together
  24. clip — for paper

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