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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: safe · land · pitcher · trunk · clip · chest · stick · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. clip — to cut
  3. land — a country
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. clip — for paper
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. content — the amount
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. chest — of your body
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. land — ground
  20. land — to come down
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — a box
  23. clip — a video
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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