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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. wound — an injury
  4. press — to push
  5. wound — an injury
  6. field — a subject
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. bound — tied together
  10. field — for sport
  11. hand — in cards
  12. field — farmland
  13. clip — for paper
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bound — obliged
  17. clip — a video
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. press — a publisher
  20. press — newspapers
  21. hand — help
  22. bound — certain
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. jam — a tight spot

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