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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. clip — a video
  6. prune — to trim
  7. scale — in music
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. clip — to cut
  10. prune — to trim
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. stand — to bear
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. net — after costs
  18. clip — for paper
  19. net — for catching
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. scale — size or range
  22. wind — moving air
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. net — in sport

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