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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. clip — for paper
  5. chest — a box
  6. net — for catching
  7. clip — to cut
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bat — the animal
  12. chest — of your body
  13. net — in sport
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. court — for sport
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. court — of a king
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. net — after costs
  23. pitch — completely
  24. bat — in an idiom

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