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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. present — the time now
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. court — of law
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. branch — a division
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. clip — to cut
  14. court — for sport
  15. clip — for paper
  16. mark — a grade
  17. cold — an illness
  18. court — of a king
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. present — there
  21. mark — a trace
  22. lie — to recline
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. clip — a video

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