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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. clip — for paper
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. spring — the season
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. lie — to recline
  9. bark — to shout
  10. clip — to cut
  11. mine — for digging
  12. clip — a video
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. swing — to play on
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. spring — of water
  22. swing — in golf
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. swing — music

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