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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bark — to shout
  5. mark — a grade
  6. capital — money
  7. scale — in music
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. mark — a trace
  15. clip — a video
  16. scale — size or range
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. capital — a city

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