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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. band — a music group
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. bore — to tire
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. land — ground
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. clip — a video
  16. band — a ring
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bore — to drill
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. land — to come down
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. mine — for digging
  24. land — a country

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