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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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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: wind · kid · ruler · court · bark · bat · perch · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. court — of a king
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wind — moving air
  7. perch — the fish
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. clip — a video
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. clip — to cut
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. court — for sport
  14. court — of law
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. kid — to tease
  22. kid — child
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. wind — moving air

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