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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: snap · trunk · clip · spring · shower · rock · kid · bark

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bark — to shout
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. clip — for paper
  10. spring — of water
  11. kid — to tease
  12. snap — to click
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. shower — to wash
  16. rock — a stone
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. shower — rain
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. spring — the season
  22. rock — music
  23. spring — a coil
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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