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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pop — music
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. bark — to shout
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. deal — to handle
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pop — soda
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. last — to go on
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. wind — moving air
  16. clip — a video
  17. pop — to visit
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — of water
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. last — final
  22. last — finally
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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