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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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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: bark · pound · court · date · kick · hand · deal · clip

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. pound — a weight
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. date — the fruit
  6. clip — a video
  7. hand — in cards
  8. clip — to cut
  9. hand — help
  10. clip — for paper
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. bark — to shout
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — for sport
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. kick — in football
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. court — of law
  24. deal — to handle

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