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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 ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. present — a gift
  5. spring — a coil
  6. clip — for paper
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. tear — from crying
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. tear — to rip
  13. spring — the season
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. swing — to play on
  16. tear — from crying
  17. spring — of water
  18. present — there
  19. swing — in golf
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. swing — music
  22. stock — goods
  23. stock — shares
  24. present — the time now

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