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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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: fine · perch · clip · trunk · plane · shower · cold · rash

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. rash — hasty
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — not warm
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — a video
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. perch — the fish
  11. plane — a tool
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. rash — a series
  15. fine — all right
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. shower — rain
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. shower — to wash
  23. fine — high quality
  24. plane — an aircraft

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