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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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. clip — a video
  5. last — finally
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. band — a ring
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. capital — money
  11. season — of the year
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. last — to go on
  15. last — final
  16. band — a music group
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. chest — of your body
  19. clip — for paper
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. clip — to cut
  23. capital — a city
  24. season — in sport

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