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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. staff — employees
  3. degree — from a university
  4. chair — a leader
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. staff — employees
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a ring
  12. content — the amount
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. staff — a stick
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. shower — to wash
  17. content — happy
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. degree — temperature
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. degree — an amount
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. shower — rain

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