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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. ball — a great time
  3. clip — a video
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. net — after costs
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. saw — the tool
  9. clip — to cut
  10. saw — the tool
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. ball — a dance
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. net — in sport
  15. content — happy
  16. content — the amount
  17. stand — to bear
  18. net — for catching
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bark — to shout
  22. game — a match
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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