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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  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. snap — to speak sharply
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. clip — for paper
  5. snap — to click
  6. wake — a trail
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. land — ground
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. season — of the year
  14. rest — a break
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. clip — to cut
  17. season — in sport
  18. rest — what's left
  19. chest — a box
  20. land — a country
  21. chest — of your body
  22. land — to come down
  23. rest — what's left
  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