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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. bat — the animal
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. clip — a video
  6. fork — in a road
  7. bark — to shout
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. prune — to trim
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. prune — to trim
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — a division
  24. clip — to cut

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