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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  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. wake — before a funeral
  2. chair — a leader
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — a friend
  7. wake — a trail
  8. band — a ring
  9. mate — to breed
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. row — to paddle
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. row — a line
  17. roll — a list
  18. clip — for paper
  19. roll — a cake
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. clip — to cut
  22. bark — to shout
  23. band — a music group
  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