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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. mine — for digging
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. kick — in football
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. game — a match
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. clip — for paper
  14. stock — goods
  15. game — wild animals
  16. clip — a video
  17. stock — shares
  18. date — the fruit
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. bark — to shout
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. clip — to cut
  24. kick — with a leg

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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