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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: chair · trunk · ground · march · wax · land · clip · content

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. march — the month
  5. ground — the earth
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. clip — a video
  9. land — to come down
  10. clip — for paper
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. land — a country
  13. ground — crushed
  14. content — happy
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chair — a leader
  17. content — the amount
  18. march — the month
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. ground — a position
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wax — to grow
  23. land — ground
  24. march — music

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