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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. march — music
  4. pop — soda
  5. march — the month
  6. bore — to tire
  7. clip — a video
  8. drill — a practice
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. bulb — for light
  11. march — the month
  12. drill — the tool
  13. clip — to cut
  14. drill — army training
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. bore — to drill
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bark — to shout
  21. pop — music
  22. bulb — for light
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pop — to visit

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