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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 124 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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. roll — a cake
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. present — there
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bark — to shout
  10. file — a document
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. saw — the tool
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a music group
  16. roll — a list
  17. file — a tool
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. file — a line of people
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. present — the time now
  22. clip — a video
  23. present — a gift
  24. saw — the tool

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