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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. charge — electricity
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. cap — a hat
  7. charge — in control
  8. wind — moving air
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. charge — a price
  13. chair — a leader
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. prune — to trim
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. cap — of ice
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cap — a lid
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. clip — a video
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. wind — moving air

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