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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 120 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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. bark — to shout
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. rock — a stone
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. chip — to eat
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. wind — moving air
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — farmland
  14. chip — for betting
  15. field — for sport
  16. stem — to come from
  17. rock — music
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. clip — a video
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. stem — of a plant

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