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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — for paper
  5. root — the cause
  6. swing — in golf
  7. root — of a word
  8. last — to go on
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. track — to keep track
  11. track — a song
  12. track — a path
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. bat — the animal
  16. swing — to play on
  17. last — final
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. clip — to cut
  20. swing — music
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. root — of a plant
  23. wax — to grow
  24. last — finally

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