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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: board · cold · bound · trunk · fall · kid · clip · spring

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. clip — for paper
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. bound — certain
  5. fall — the season
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bound — obliged
  8. kid — to tease
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kid — child
  12. spring — of water
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. board — to get on
  15. spring — the season
  16. bound — tied together
  17. cold — not warm
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. spring — a coil
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. clip — a video
  22. fall — to drop
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. board — a committee

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