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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: patient · wind · pound · bark · clip · temple

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. clip — for paper
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bark — to shout
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. wind — moving air
  14. pound — a weight
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. clip — a video

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