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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. squash — the sport
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. squash — to crush
  10. tear — to rip
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. bat — the animal
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. clip — a video
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — from crying
  24. pitch — completely

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