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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 120 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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. saw — the tool
  4. clip — for paper
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. clip — a video
  8. saw — the tool
  9. ball — a great time
  10. wind — moving air
  11. branch — a division
  12. ball — a dance
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. cold — an illness
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wind — moving air
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. bark — to shout
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. wind — to turn a key

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