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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: chip · rock · tear · track · date · trunk · cold · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. tear — from crying
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. chip — to eat
  6. clip — a video
  7. cold — not warm
  8. tear — to rip
  9. rock — a stone
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. tear — from crying
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chip — for betting
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. clip — to cut
  17. date — the fruit
  18. track — to keep track
  19. rock — music
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. cold — an illness
  22. track — a path
  23. track — a song
  24. rock — to move gently

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