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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: hand · clip · net · bark · pitch · plane · face · hide

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. bark — to shout
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. plane — a tool
  7. hand — help
  8. clip — to cut
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pitch — completely
  14. net — in sport
  15. clip — a video
  16. face — to confront
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. net — for catching
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. face — to point toward
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. face — part of the head
  24. plane — in geometry

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