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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. net — for catching
  4. rock — music
  5. content — happy
  6. net — in sport
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. wound — an injury
  9. clip — for paper
  10. content — the amount
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. net — after costs
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. shower — to wash
  17. rock — a stone
  18. clip — a video
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. wound — an injury
  21. shower — rain
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. clip — to cut
  24. kick — in football

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