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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. rock — music
  3. clip — for paper
  4. capital — money
  5. clip — to cut
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. pop — to visit
  9. ground — a position
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bark — to shout
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. pop — music
  15. ground — crushed
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. ground — the earth
  19. clip — a video
  20. vault — a safe
  21. pitch — completely
  22. capital — a city
  23. rock — a stone
  24. pop — soda

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