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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: bark · court · last · calf · prune · clip · wound · shower

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. bark — to shout
  4. clip — a video
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — rain
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. last — to go on
  11. court — for sport
  12. last — finally
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. prune — to trim
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wound — an injury
  18. last — final
  19. clip — to cut
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wound — an injury
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — of law

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