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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 120 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 · shower · trunk · stick · bank · chest · kid · season

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bank — for money
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. bank — of a river
  5. kid — to tease
  6. season — in sport
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. season — of the year
  9. clip — to cut
  10. shower — rain
  11. chest — a box
  12. bank — for money
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. clip — a video
  15. chest — of your body
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. shower — to wash
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chest — of your body
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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