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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. season — of the year
  3. track — a song
  4. track — a path
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. track — to keep track
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cell — a phone
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. clip — a video
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cap — a hat
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cell — in biology
  16. bark — to shout
  17. season — in sport
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. clip — for paper
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. cap — a lid
  24. cap — of ice

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