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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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. mark — a grade
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a city
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. clip — a video
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. mark — a trace
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. clip — to cut
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. court — of law
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. court — for sport
  19. saw — the tool
  20. saw — the tool
  21. branch — a division
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. clip — for paper
  24. court — of a king

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