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

Word bank: kid · row · racket · clip · cell · mark · key · trunk

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. kid — child
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. row — to paddle
  5. key — for a lock
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. cell — a phone
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mark — a grade
  15. kid — to tease
  16. row — a line
  17. mark — a trace
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. key — the most important part
  21. key — in music
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cell — in biology

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