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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: mate · hand · clip · last · mug · bark · ball · chest

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. hand — help
  3. clip — to cut
  4. mate — a friend
  5. clip — for paper
  6. mate — a partner
  7. chest — a box
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. last — final
  10. mug — a face
  11. chest — of your body
  12. ball — a great time
  13. last — to go on
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. chest — of your body
  16. last — finally
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. mug — a cup
  19. ball — a dance
  20. mate — to breed
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. bark — to shout
  23. mug — to rob
  24. hand — in cards

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