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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. clip — a video
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. row — to paddle
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. branch — a division
  12. tear — from crying
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. mine — for digging
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. tear — from crying
  18. stem — to come from
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. tear — to rip
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. clip — for paper
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. branch — of a bank

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