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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. rush — hurry
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. shower — to wash
  6. craft — boats
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bark — to shout
  10. cell — a phone
  11. wax — to grow
  12. clip — a video
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. craft — a skill
  22. shower — rain
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cell — in biology

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