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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. can — a tin
  3. hand — in cards
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. hand — help
  6. clip — to cut
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. mate — to breed
  10. mate — a friend
  11. can — to be able to
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. date — the fruit
  16. spring — of water
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. can — a tin
  20. clip — a video
  21. mate — a partner
  22. spring — a coil
  23. scale — in music
  24. spring — the season

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