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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: nail · bark · root · cold · stick · kick · clip · pitcher

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. root — of a word
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. root — of a plant
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bark — to shout
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. root — the cause
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. kick — in football
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. nail — on a finger

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