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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: dip · cold · press · clip · bark · march · drill · date

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. clip — to cut
  6. drill — the tool
  7. drill — army training
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bark — to shout
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. march — music
  13. date — the fruit
  14. press — newspapers
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. press — a publisher
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. press — to push
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. clip — a video
  21. march — the month
  22. drill — a practice
  23. dip — to sink
  24. clip — for paper

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