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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. clip — to cut
  3. lean — to bend
  4. cap — a lid
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. hand — help
  9. cap — of ice
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. hand — in cards
  12. tube — the underground
  13. clip — a video
  14. lean — thin
  15. tear — from crying
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bark — to shout
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cap — a hat
  22. wound — an injury
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. tube — a container

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