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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. race — a contest
  3. spring — the season
  4. march — the month
  5. clip — to cut
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. race — the arms race
  8. clip — for paper
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. race — humankind
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. spring — of water
  14. plane — a tool
  15. hand — help
  16. bark — to shout
  17. spring — a coil
  18. march — the month
  19. hand — in cards
  20. spell — a short time
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — letters
  23. march — music
  24. clip — a video

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