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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. hand — help
  3. rash — hasty
  4. spell — magic
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. board — a committee
  8. spell — letters
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. rash — a series
  11. band — a music group
  12. spell — a short time
  13. band — a ring
  14. clip — to cut
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. clip — for paper
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. board — to get on
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. clip — a video
  24. perch — the fish

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