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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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. tear — to rip
  4. chest — of your body
  5. clip — a video
  6. bulb — for light
  7. season — of the year
  8. cue — a hint
  9. row — a line
  10. cue — a signal
  11. clip — to cut
  12. tear — from crying
  13. season — in sport
  14. row — to paddle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. chest — of your body
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bulb — for light
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. cue — for pool
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. chest — a box

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