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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. mate — to breed
  4. net — in sport
  5. bulb — for light
  6. clip — a video
  7. staff — employees
  8. clip — to cut
  9. root — of a plant
  10. band — a ring
  11. clip — for paper
  12. root — of a word
  13. bulb — for light
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. staff — a stick
  16. net — after costs
  17. mate — a partner
  18. net — for catching
  19. mate — a friend
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. band — a music group
  22. root — the cause
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bulb — of a plant

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