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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. snap — to click
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. clip — to cut
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. rule — a law
  7. bore — to drill
  8. bark — to shout
  9. field — farmland
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. saw — the tool
  12. clip — a video
  13. field — a subject
  14. rule — government
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. field — for sport
  17. saw — the tool
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. clip — for paper

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