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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. present — a gift
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. present — the time now
  6. rule — a law
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. rule — government
  9. band — a music group
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. band — a ring
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a line
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. present — there
  16. cell — in biology
  17. date — the fruit
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. cell — a phone
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. clip — a video

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