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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: stand · hand · foot · sharp · trunk · pound · wind · clip

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. wind — moving air
  3. hand — help
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. pound — a weight
  7. wind — moving air
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. foot — a measure
  15. stand — to bear
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. clip — a video
  20. hand — in cards
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — for paper

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