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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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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: clip · bark · leaves · staff · pound · land · press · court

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. press — a publisher
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. pound — a weight
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. press — to push
  10. staff — a stick
  11. staff — employees
  12. court — of law
  13. court — of a king
  14. land — to come down
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. clip — a video
  17. press — newspapers
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. court — for sport
  20. land — ground
  21. clip — to cut
  22. staff — employees
  23. land — a country
  24. bark — to shout

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