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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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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: root · chest · clip · trunk · mark · stick · wind · hand

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. wind — moving air
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. hand — in cards
  7. mark — a trace
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. clip — for paper
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. mark — a grade
  17. clip — a video
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. root — of a plant
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. chest — of your body
  23. root — of a word
  24. root — the cause

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