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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: cell · clip · bark · cap · net · last · chest · sharp

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. cap — a lid
  3. last — final
  4. last — finally
  5. bark — to shout
  6. chest — a box
  7. clip — for paper
  8. cap — of ice
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. cap — a hat
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. chest — of your body
  16. net — after costs
  17. last — to go on
  18. net — in sport
  19. cell — a phone
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. sharp — clever
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. net — for catching

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