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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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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 · wound · face · stand · land · drill · clip · ground

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. drill — army training
  5. clip — a video
  6. stand — to bear
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. clip — for paper
  9. ground — the earth
  10. wound — an injury
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. face — to confront
  14. drill — a practice
  15. ground — crushed
  16. ground — a position
  17. face — to point toward
  18. wound — an injury
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. land — a country
  22. drill — the tool
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. face — part of the head

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