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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: clip · game · root · shower · coach · file · trunk · mine

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. clip — to cut
  3. mine — for digging
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. game — a match
  7. root — of a word
  8. shower — to wash
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. file — a tool
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. clip — for paper
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. clip — a video
  18. root — the cause
  19. file — a line of people
  20. game — wild animals
  21. root — of a plant
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. file — a document
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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