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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. kid — to tease
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. kid — child
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. clip — a video
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. rule — a law
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. chest — of your body
  18. saw — the tool
  19. mine — for digging
  20. chest — a box
  21. saw — the tool
  22. clip — for paper
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. clip — to cut

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