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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. mate — to breed
  3. bark — to shout
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. rule — government
  7. mate — a friend
  8. present — a gift
  9. mate — a partner
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. rule — a law
  12. degree — an amount
  13. clip — to cut
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — for paper
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. clip — a video
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. degree — from a university

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