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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. clip — a video
  6. kid — to tease
  7. safe — a strongbox
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. mark — a grade
  13. clip — to cut
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. mark — a trace
  16. shower — rain
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. pit — a hole
  20. bark — to shout
  21. pit — in a race
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stand — to bear
  24. kid — child

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