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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. cell — in biology
  5. court — for sport
  6. cell — a phone
  7. clip — a video
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. content — the amount
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. wax — to grow
  12. court — of a king
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. rest — what's left
  15. charge — in control
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. court — of law
  18. charge — electricity
  19. rest — what's left
  20. content — happy
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. clip — to cut
  23. rest — a break
  24. charge — a price

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