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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. mark — a trace
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. band — a music group
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. clip — a video
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. pitch — completely
  18. mark — a grade
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. bark — to shout
  22. kid — child
  23. rule — government
  24. mark — to pay attention

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