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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  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. trunk — of an elephant
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. field — for sport
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. pit — in a race
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. clip — to cut
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. clip — a video
  12. tear — to rip
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. field — farmland
  15. pit — a hole
  16. can — a tin
  17. tear — from crying
  18. spring — of water
  19. can — to be able to
  20. field — a subject
  21. clip — for paper
  22. can — a tin
  23. spring — the season
  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