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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. jam — in traffic
  5. bat — the animal
  6. clip — a video
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bound — obliged
  9. sharp — clever
  10. clip — to cut
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. band — a ring
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. bound — tied together
  15. bound — certain
  16. band — a music group
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. clip — for paper
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. branch — a division
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. branch — of a bank

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