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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. bark — to shout
  4. key — the most important part
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. key — for a lock
  8. squash — the sport
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. chair — a leader
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. clip — a video
  13. key — in music
  14. squash — to crush
  15. game — a match
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kick — in football
  18. game — wild animals
  19. wound — an injury
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — to cut
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. wound — an injury

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