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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. object — to protest
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. march — the month
  8. game — wild animals
  9. march — the month
  10. object — an aim
  11. march — music
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. clip — a video
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cell — a phone
  17. vault — a safe
  18. cell — in biology
  19. object — a thing
  20. bark — to shout
  21. capital — money
  22. game — a match
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. capital — a city

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