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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. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. cell — in biology
  3. bark — to shout
  4. clip — for paper
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. lean — to bend
  8. mark — a trace
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. mark — a grade
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. lean — thin
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bear — the animal
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. bear — the animal
  23. clip — a video
  24. wave — with your hand

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