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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 116 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.

Words on the sheet
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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: kid · season · march · clip · bat · trunk · tube · fall

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. kid — to tease
  6. march — the month
  7. season — of the year
  8. fall — to drop
  9. kid — child
  10. march — the month
  11. clip — a video
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. season — in sport
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. tube — the underground
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. march — music
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. tube — a container
  20. bat — the animal
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. fall — the season
  23. fall — to drop
  24. trunk — of a car

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