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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — child
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. clip — a video
  9. ground — the earth
  10. clip — for paper
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. race — the arms race
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — crushed
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. race — humankind
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. race — a contest
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — to trim

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