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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: game · roll · trunk · staff · clip · chest · face · bark

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. clip — for paper
  3. staff — employees
  4. clip — a video
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. game — a match
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. clip — to cut
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. face — to point toward
  15. roll — a list
  16. staff — employees
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. face — to confront
  19. bark — to shout
  20. game — wild animals
  21. chest — of your body
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. staff — a stick
  24. face — part of the head

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