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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 120 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: bark · clip · kid · rash · bat · saw · club · pitcher

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. club — a group
  5. rash — a series
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. saw — the tool
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. bat — the animal
  11. clip — for paper
  12. club — for dancing
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. kid — to tease
  17. clip — a video
  18. kid — child
  19. club — for golf
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. clip — to cut
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. saw — the tool
  24. bat — for baseball

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