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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — of the year
  4. charge — a price
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bat — the animal
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. clip — to cut
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. capital — a city
  12. clip — for paper
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. shower — to wash
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. charge — in control
  19. capital — money
  20. stem — to come from
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. clip — a video
  23. shower — rain
  24. charge — electricity

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