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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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Word bank
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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: pit · mug · sharp · clip · cold · chip · bark · wake

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. mug — a cup
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. clip — a video
  9. mug — a face
  10. chip — to eat
  11. cold — an illness
  12. clip — to cut
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. bark — to shout
  15. pit — in a race
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wake — a trail
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. pit — a hole
  21. chip — for betting
  22. mug — to rob
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chip — in a computer

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