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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. club — a group
  3. clip — for paper
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. race — humankind
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. race — a contest
  10. shower — rain
  11. clip — to cut
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. kid — to tease
  16. chest — a box
  17. shower — to wash
  18. race — the arms race
  19. club — for golf
  20. kid — child
  21. club — for dancing
  22. clip — a video
  23. chest — of your body
  24. trunk — of a car

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