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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. court — of a king
  3. swing — to play on
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bark — to shout
  7. track — to keep track
  8. hand — in cards
  9. clip — to cut
  10. swing — in golf
  11. track — a path
  12. swing — music
  13. court — for sport
  14. mate — a friend
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. mate — a partner
  17. court — of law
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. clip — for paper
  20. track — a song
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. hand — help
  23. mate — to breed
  24. clip — a video

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