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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — for paper
  5. spring — a coil
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. clip — to cut
  9. march — the month
  10. face — to point toward
  11. pitch — completely
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. face — to confront
  15. face — part of the head
  16. sharp — clever
  17. spring — of water
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. scale — in music
  21. scale — size or range
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. spring — the season

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