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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. kick — in football
  3. squash — to crush
  4. race — a contest
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. race — the arms race
  9. last — final
  10. race — humankind
  11. scale — in music
  12. spring — the season
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. clip — for paper
  17. squash — the sport
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — of water
  20. last — to go on
  21. scale — size or range
  22. clip — a video
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. bark — to shout

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