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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. clip — to cut
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. bank — for money
  7. last — final
  8. content — the amount
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. bank — for money
  11. chest — a box
  12. cell — in biology
  13. last — finally
  14. cell — a phone
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bat — the animal
  17. last — to go on
  18. chest — of your body
  19. clip — a video
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. bank — of a river
  22. content — happy
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. chest — of your body

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