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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 116 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 · wax · face · pitch · kick · clip · lash · field

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. face — to confront
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. face — part of the head
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wax — to grow
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. kick — in football
  14. field — a subject
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. bark — to shout
  17. face — to point toward
  18. field — farmland
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. field — for sport
  23. clip — a video
  24. pitch — completely

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