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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. root — of a word
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — a video
  7. present — a gift
  8. club — a group
  9. kid — child
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. race — a contest
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. root — the cause
  14. club — for golf
  15. club — for dancing
  16. present — there
  17. race — the arms race
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. race — humankind
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. row — a line
  22. root — of a plant
  23. row — to paddle
  24. present — the time now

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