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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
468
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: plane · cold · march · pound · ball · racket · bark · clip

  1. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. ball — a dance
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. cold — not warm
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ball — a great time
  14. bark — to shout
  15. march — the month
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. pound — a weight
  19. clip — to cut
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. plane — a tool
  23. clip — a video
  24. bark — of a tree

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