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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. degree — from a university
  4. row — a line
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bass — low music
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bark — to shout
  13. degree — an amount
  14. row — to paddle
  15. pop — music
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. pop — soda
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. pit — in a race
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. pit — a hole
  24. bass — the fish

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