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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. land — ground
  3. wound — an injury
  4. land — a country
  5. staff — employees
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. land — to come down
  10. kid — to tease
  11. tube — the underground
  12. last — to go on
  13. tube — a container
  14. kid — child
  15. wound — an injury
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. clip — for paper
  18. last — finally
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. staff — employees
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. staff — a stick

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