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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: pound · hand · bark · can · cue · wound · clip · cold

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cue — for pool
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cue — a signal
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. can — to be able to
  12. wound — an injury
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cue — a hint
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. can — a tin
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. clip — a video
  23. can — a tin
  24. pound — a weight

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