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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'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. clip — to cut
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. game — a match
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. cue — for pool
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. clip — a video
  11. shower — rain
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. clip — for paper
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. cue — a signal
  16. net — in sport
  17. game — wild animals
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bark — to shout
  20. net — for catching
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. branch — a division
  24. net — after costs

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