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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. clip — for paper
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. clip — to cut
  8. plane — a tool
  9. bark — to shout
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. track — to keep track
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. band — a music group
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — a video
  17. rush — hurry
  18. band — a ring
  19. bat — the animal
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. track — a path
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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