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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 124 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: race · trunk · content · clip · saw · ground · leaves · field

  1. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. race — a contest
  3. ground — a position
  4. content — the amount
  5. ground — crushed
  6. field — farmland
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. ground — the earth
  9. saw — the tool
  10. field — a subject
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. race — humankind
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. clip — a video
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. clip — for paper
  19. race — the arms race
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. clip — to cut
  22. field — for sport
  23. saw — the tool
  24. content — happy

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