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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. sharp — clever
  3. fine — high quality
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. fine — all right
  8. clip — to cut
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. pitch — completely
  11. clip — a video
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. bark — to shout
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. pitcher — a jug

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