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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. bat — the animal
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. chip — for betting
  9. clip — a video
  10. cap — a hat
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. mine — for digging
  16. season — of the year
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. cap — of ice
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. wake — a trail
  22. season — in sport
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. chip — to eat

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