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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 116 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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. wound — an injury
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. wound — an injury
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. fall — to drop
  9. march — music
  10. kid — child
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — to cut
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. march — the month
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. stock — shares
  18. kid — to tease
  19. fall — to drop
  20. bark — to shout
  21. march — the month
  22. stock — goods
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. fall — the season

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