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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. ground — crushed
  4. track — to keep track
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bark — to shout
  8. tear — to rip
  9. ground — a position
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. tear — from crying
  13. track — a path
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. ground — the earth
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — for catching
  19. clip — a video
  20. mine — for digging
  21. clip — to cut
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. clip — for paper
  24. net — after costs

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