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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: season · trunk · net · staff · rock · hand · clip · wound

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. staff — employees
  3. season — in sport
  4. wound — an injury
  5. hand — help
  6. net — for catching
  7. staff — employees
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. season — of the year
  10. clip — to cut
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. net — after costs
  13. clip — a video
  14. rock — music
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. net — in sport
  17. rock — a stone
  18. wound — an injury
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. hand — in cards
  23. staff — a stick
  24. clip — for paper

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