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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: game · cold · clip · trunk · net · key · leaves · race

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. game — a match
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — to cut
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. key — for a lock
  8. key — in music
  9. key — the most important part
  10. race — the arms race
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. cold — not warm
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. race — humankind
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. clip — for paper
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. net — after costs
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. game — wild animals
  22. race — a contest
  23. net — for catching
  24. cold — an illness

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