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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 120 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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. spell — letters
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. bark — to shout
  8. hand — help
  9. content — the amount
  10. clip — to cut
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. hand — in cards
  15. squash — the sport
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. spell — magic
  22. content — happy
  23. spell — a short time
  24. content — videos and posts

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