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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.

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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: rest · trunk · rock · cold · file · pit · bass · clip

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. bass — the fish
  4. pit — in a race
  5. clip — a video
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rest — what's left
  10. file — a line of people
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. rest — a break
  13. bass — low music
  14. rock — a stone
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. cold — not warm
  19. clip — for paper
  20. pit — a hole
  21. cold — an illness
  22. rock — music
  23. file — a document
  24. rest — what's left

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