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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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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: face · hand · bear · bark · capital · wind · fall · clip

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bark — to shout
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. fall — the season
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. face — to point toward
  9. wind — moving air
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bear — the animal
  12. wind — moving air
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a city
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. face — to confront
  17. fall — to drop
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bear — the animal
  21. clip — to cut
  22. fall — to drop
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. face — part of the head

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