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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: trunk · sharp · spring · clip · field · rash · race · board

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. field — a subject
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. clip — a video
  5. race — a contest
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — for paper
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. field — farmland
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — a series
  12. spring — the season
  13. board — to get on
  14. spring — of water
  15. race — humankind
  16. clip — to cut
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. board — a committee
  19. sharp — clever
  20. field — for sport
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. race — the arms race
  23. rash — hasty
  24. trunk — of a tree

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