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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. shower — to wash
  3. clip — a video
  4. shower — rain
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. snap — to click
  7. root — the cause
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. root — of a word
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bark — to shout
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. root — of a plant
  14. march — music
  15. mark — a grade
  16. march — the month
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. clip — for paper
  19. mark — a trace
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bat — the animal

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