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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 116 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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. band — a ring
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. band — a music group
  8. field — a subject
  9. present — there
  10. clip — for paper
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. file — a line of people
  13. scale — size or range
  14. clip — to cut
  15. scale — in music
  16. snap — to click
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. field — farmland
  19. present — the time now
  20. file — a document
  21. field — for sport
  22. clip — a video
  23. present — a gift
  24. file — a tool

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