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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 116 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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. net — after costs
  6. file — a line of people
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. file — a document
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. charge — electricity
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. net — in sport
  13. spring — a coil
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spring — of water
  17. wax — to grow
  18. charge — a price
  19. bark — to shout
  20. clip — a video
  21. spring — the season
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. charge — in control
  24. file — a tool

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