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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. drill — army training
  3. clip — for paper
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. race — humankind
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. dip — to sink
  10. cold — an illness
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. race — a contest
  13. drill — a practice
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. race — the arms race
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cold — not warm
  18. clip — to cut
  19. stem — to come from
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. drill — the tool
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. clip — a video

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