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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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468
Word bank
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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 like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. toast — bread
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. mine — for digging
  5. cell — in biology
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cell — a phone
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bark — to shout
  19. wound — an injury
  20. clip — a video
  21. kick — in football
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. stand — to bear

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