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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: bound · land · lash · clip · craft · trunk · mine · game

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. land — a country
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bound — certain
  8. clip — for paper
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. land — to come down
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. bound — tied together
  14. land — ground
  15. mine — for digging
  16. clip — a video
  17. bound — obliged
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. craft — a skill
  20. game — a match
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. clip — to cut

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