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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. pit — a hole
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. bear — the animal
  7. dip — to sink
  8. bear — the animal
  9. root — of a plant
  10. kid — to tease
  11. root — the cause
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. clip — to cut
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. root — of a word
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. kid — child
  22. pit — in a race
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. bear — to put up with

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