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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.

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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: club · hide · bat · ground · bark · arm · clip · cell

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. ground — a position
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. ground — the earth
  5. clip — for paper
  6. ground — crushed
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. clip — a video
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cell — a phone
  16. club — for golf
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. club — for dancing
  19. bat — the animal
  20. clip — to cut
  21. cell — in biology
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. club — a group

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