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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wind — moving air
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. clip — to cut
  8. rash — hasty
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. dip — to sink
  14. clip — for paper
  15. hand — in cards
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. rash — a series
  19. bark — to shout
  20. wind — moving air
  21. hand — help
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. clip — a video
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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