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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. row — to paddle
  4. row — a line
  5. mark — a trace
  6. clip — to cut
  7. stem — to come from
  8. club — a group
  9. club — for golf
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. saw — the tool
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. club — for dancing
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. mark — a grade
  19. rash — a series
  20. clip — a video
  21. rash — hasty
  22. saw — the tool
  23. bark — to shout
  24. row — a quarrel

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