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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. wound — an injury
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. field — farmland
  5. clip — to cut
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. content — the amount
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. clip — a video
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. field — for sport
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. squash — to crush
  14. lean — thin
  15. lean — to bend
  16. content — happy
  17. wound — an injury
  18. clip — for paper
  19. squash — the sport
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. field — a subject
  22. bark — to shout
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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