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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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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 · clip · fine · root · kid · march · lean · fall

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. fine — high quality
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. fine — all right
  5. clip — for paper
  6. lean — thin
  7. clip — a video
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. lean — to bend
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. root — of a plant
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. kid — child
  16. march — the month
  17. fall — to drop
  18. fall — the season
  19. root — the cause
  20. fall — to drop
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. root — of a word
  24. kid — to tease

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