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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 120 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. clip — to cut
  5. craft — boats
  6. clip — for paper
  7. track — a song
  8. track — to keep track
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. branch — a division
  15. wake — a trail
  16. track — a path
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. craft — a skill
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. clip — a video
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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