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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. mine — for digging
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. vault — a safe
  8. foot — a measure
  9. bark — to shout
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. tear — to rip
  24. capital — money

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