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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 120 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: cell · foot · bound · bark · snap · clip · bear · land

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. foot — a measure
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bound — obliged
  8. snap — to click
  9. land — to come down
  10. bound — tied together
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bound — certain
  13. bear — the animal
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cell — a phone
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. clip — a video
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. cell — in biology
  22. land — ground
  23. land — a country
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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