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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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. bat — the animal
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. staff — a stick
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. staff — employees
  8. fall — the season
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. staff — employees
  11. fall — to drop
  12. tube — a container
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. kid — child
  15. fall — to drop
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. tube — the underground
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. kid — to tease

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