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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  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. trunk — of a tree
  2. shower — to wash
  3. face — to confront
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. file — a tool
  6. spring — of water
  7. face — part of the head
  8. hand — help
  9. file — a line of people
  10. tear — to rip
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. clip — to cut
  14. spring — a coil
  15. tear — from crying
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. spring — the season
  18. tear — from crying
  19. shower — rain
  20. hand — in cards
  21. file — a document
  22. clip — for paper
  23. face — to point toward
  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