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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: jam · chest · clip · tear · wake · saw · bear · bark

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. chest — of your body
  3. saw — the tool
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. clip — to cut
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bark — to shout
  13. wake — a trail
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chest — a box
  16. bear — the animal
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. jam — a tight spot
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — of your body
  23. clip — a video
  24. bear — the animal

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