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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. pop — soda
  3. last — finally
  4. clip — to cut
  5. dip — to sink
  6. bark — to shout
  7. chair — a leader
  8. game — a match
  9. last — final
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. clip — for paper
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. clip — a video
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. last — to go on
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. pop — music
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. pop — to visit
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. chair — a professorship

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