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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 120 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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. capital — money
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. stock — goods
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. wound — an injury
  12. mine — for digging
  13. tear — from crying
  14. wind — moving air
  15. clip — to cut
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. capital — a city
  23. clip — a video
  24. stock — shares

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