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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 · straw · content · ball · leaves · net · clip · ground

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. ball — a great time
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. clip — a video
  5. net — for catching
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — in sport
  8. clip — for paper
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. ground — crushed
  11. ground — the earth
  12. content — happy
  13. content — the amount
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. clip — to cut
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. ground — a position
  24. straw — dry grass

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