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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  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. bat — the animal
  2. kid — child
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. current — of water
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. club — for golf
  9. band — a ring
  10. club — a group
  11. club — for dancing
  12. current — happening now
  13. current — electric
  14. cell — in biology
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. kid — to tease
  17. cell — a phone
  18. band — a music group
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. clip — a video
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. clip — for paper
  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