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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 · dip · land · court · jam · pit · trunk · wax

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  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. court — for sport
  2. pit — in a race
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wax — to grow
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. pit — a hole
  13. clip — to cut
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. court — of law
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. court — of a king
  19. land — a country
  20. dip — to sink
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  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