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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. tear — to rip
  3. branch — a division
  4. clip — for paper
  5. net — for catching
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. net — in sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. march — the month
  11. clip — to cut
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. march — the month
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bass — low music
  20. march — music
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. clip — a video
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. bark — to shout

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