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

Word bank: face · patient · clip · staff · dip · row · trunk · snap

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. face — to confront
  4. clip — for paper
  5. row — to paddle
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. snap — to click
  8. clip — a video
  9. face — to point toward
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. clip — to cut
  12. face — part of the head
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. staff — employees
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. staff — a stick
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. row — a line
  24. dip — to sink

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