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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bark — to shout
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. cap — a hat
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. content — happy
  10. tube — a container
  11. squash — the sport
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. cap — of ice
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. clip — to cut
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. content — the amount
  21. squash — to crush
  22. tube — the underground
  23. clip — a video
  24. cap — a lid

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