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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 116 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: clip · mine · race · cell · root · wake · bark · mate

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. race — the arms race
  3. mine — for digging
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. wake — a trail
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. clip — a video
  10. root — of a word
  11. cell — a phone
  12. root — of a plant
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. race — a contest
  15. mate — to breed
  16. mate — a friend
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mate — a partner
  19. bark — to shout
  20. clip — to cut
  21. race — humankind
  22. root — the cause
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bark — of a tree

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