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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  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 a car
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. race — a contest
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. clip — to cut
  8. degree — temperature
  9. kick — in football
  10. bound — obliged
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. toast — bread
  13. bound — certain
  14. clip — for paper
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — from a university
  17. clip — a video
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bound — tied together
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  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