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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. club — for golf
  5. saw — the tool
  6. club — for dancing
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. saw — the tool
  9. shower — rain
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. capital — money
  12. shower — to wash
  13. clip — for paper
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. club — a group
  19. bark — to shout
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. clip — a video
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. capital — a city
  24. bark — of a tree

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