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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. last — to go on
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. last — finally
  8. ball — a dance
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. ball — a great time
  11. bark — to shout
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. clip — to cut
  14. snap — to click
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. dip — to sink
  18. clip — for paper
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. clip — a video
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. dip — a sauce

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