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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. clip — a video
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. drill — the tool
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. row — a line
  9. bark — to shout
  10. march — music
  11. drill — army training
  12. rash — a series
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. clip — to cut
  16. row — to paddle
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. clip — for paper
  24. drill — a practice

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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