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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. rash — hasty
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. clip — for paper
  6. content — happy
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. rash — a series
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. content — the amount
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. clip — a video
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. clip — to cut

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