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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. net — after costs
  3. clip — a video
  4. drill — army training
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. charge — in control
  8. net — for catching
  9. clip — for paper
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. shower — to wash
  13. net — in sport
  14. clip — to cut
  15. shower — rain
  16. land — to come down
  17. charge — a price
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. land — ground
  20. drill — a practice
  21. bark — to shout
  22. charge — electricity
  23. land — a country
  24. kid — child

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