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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. rash — hasty
  3. cell — a phone
  4. rest — a break
  5. staff — employees
  6. clip — to cut
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. swing — to play on
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. rash — a series
  11. field — for sport
  12. clip — a video
  13. field — a subject
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. cell — in biology
  16. swing — music
  17. staff — a stick
  18. swing — in golf
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. clip — for paper
  21. field — farmland
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — what's left
  24. trunk — of a car

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