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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. plane — a tool
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bound — obliged
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. game — wild animals
  11. clip — a video
  12. bound — tied together
  13. bound — certain
  14. hand — in cards
  15. object — to protest
  16. object — an aim
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. hand — help
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. clip — to cut
  21. object — a thing
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — a match
  24. plane — in geometry

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