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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. rash — hasty
  4. clip — a video
  5. pitch — completely
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. chest — of your body
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. drill — the tool
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. drill — a practice
  19. clip — for paper
  20. rash — a series
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. drill — army training
  23. bat — the animal
  24. chest — a box

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