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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. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. content — happy
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. can — to be able to
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. press — a publisher
  11. press — newspapers
  12. can — a tin
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. cold — an illness
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. content — the amount
  20. cold — not warm
  21. can — a tin
  22. press — to push
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. trunk — of a tree

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