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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bore — to drill
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. file — a document
  11. file — a line of people
  12. shower — to wash
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bark — to shout
  15. file — a tool
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — a video
  20. bore — to tire
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. shower — rain

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