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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. cap — of ice
  4. season — in sport
  5. pass — a permit
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — for paper
  9. chest — a box
  10. cap — a lid
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. present — the time now
  14. present — there
  15. clip — a video
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. cold — not warm
  18. season — of the year
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cap — a hat
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — of your body

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