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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. clip — a video
  3. staff — employees
  4. band — a music group
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. staff — employees
  12. clip — for paper
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. clip — to cut
  19. band — a ring
  20. staff — a stick
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. kick — in football
  24. bark — to shout

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