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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: trunk · kid · clip · land · pitch · arm · hand · temple

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — ground
  12. hand — in cards
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — to tease
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. pitch — completely
  18. hand — help
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. clip — to cut

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