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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. pound — a weight
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. hand — in cards
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. clip — a video
  19. hand — help
  20. clip — to cut
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. sharp — clever
  23. shower — rain
  24. pound — for dogs

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