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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 asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. drill — a practice
  3. clip — a video
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. land — to come down
  6. hand — help
  7. chest — a box
  8. land — ground
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — the tool
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bark — to shout
  16. clip — for paper
  17. spell — a short time
  18. land — a country
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. band — a ring
  21. spell — letters
  22. clip — to cut
  23. hand — in cards
  24. band — a music group

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