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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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — for paper
  4. ground — crushed
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. bark — to shout
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. scale — in music
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. rest — what's left
  14. pound — a weight
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. scale — size or range
  18. rest — a break
  19. ground — the earth
  20. bat — the animal
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. prune — to trim
  23. clip — to cut
  24. ground — a position

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