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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: clip · trunk · cell · rash · kick · coach · squash · field

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. clip — to cut
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cell — a phone
  6. field — a subject
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. field — for sport
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. cell — in biology
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. field — farmland
  16. rash — a series
  17. squash — to crush
  18. clip — for paper
  19. rash — hasty
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. squash — the sport
  23. kick — in football
  24. clip — a video

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