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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. tube — the underground
  6. bark — to shout
  7. clip — for paper
  8. file — a tool
  9. tube — a container
  10. key — the most important part
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. key — in music
  14. key — for a lock
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. clip — a video
  17. wax — to grow
  18. bat — the animal
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. mouse — the animal

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