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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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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. last — to go on
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. bark — to shout
  7. last — final
  8. clip — a video
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. stem — to come from
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. clip — to cut
  15. game — wild animals
  16. clip — for paper
  17. last — finally
  18. game — a match

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