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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. clip — to cut
  3. row — a line
  4. present — there
  5. bark — to shout
  6. court — of law
  7. track — to keep track
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. present — a gift
  10. clip — for paper
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. court — of a king
  13. track — a song
  14. court — for sport
  15. clip — a video
  16. row — to paddle
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. shower — rain
  19. shower — to wash
  20. stock — goods
  21. present — the time now
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. stock — shares

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