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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: object · cold · fall · bark · sharp · clip · court · squash

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — not warm
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. object — a thing
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. sharp — clever
  7. clip — to cut
  8. court — for sport
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. object — an aim
  11. fall — the season
  12. squash — the sport
  13. fall — to drop
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. court — of law
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. squash — to crush
  18. court — of a king
  19. cold — an illness
  20. object — to protest
  21. clip — a video
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bark — to shout
  24. fall — to drop

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