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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. clip — for paper
  3. march — the month
  4. spring — of water
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. rash — a series
  8. rock — music
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. rock — a stone
  11. march — music
  12. stock — goods
  13. rash — hasty
  14. clip — a video
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. staff — a stick
  17. stock — shares
  18. staff — employees
  19. spring — a coil
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. staff — employees
  23. march — the month
  24. spring — the season

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