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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. craft — boats
  4. file — a tool
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. race — humankind
  7. pop — music
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. pop — soda
  11. file — a document
  12. pop — to visit
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — for paper
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. file — a line of people
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — an amount
  21. bark — to shout
  22. race — a contest
  23. craft — a skill
  24. race — the arms race

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