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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. degree — temperature
  5. file — a tool
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. file — a document
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. tube — a container
  12. bark — to shout
  13. hand — in cards
  14. tube — the underground
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. mate — a partner
  18. clip — to cut
  19. file — a line of people
  20. degree — from a university
  21. mate — to breed
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. hand — help
  24. degree — an amount

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