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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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. wind — moving air
  3. mine — for digging
  4. drill — the tool
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. drill — a practice
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. clip — to cut
  9. saw — the tool
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. drill — army training
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. wax — to grow
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. bark — to shout
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — for paper
  23. race — the arms race
  24. wind — moving air

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