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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  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. branch — of a tree
  2. shower — rain
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. drill — the tool
  6. clip — for paper
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bark — to shout
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. drill — army training
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. drill — a practice
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. branch — a division
  20. fork — in a road
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. branch — of a bank
  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