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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: clip · season · bark · trunk · game · rock · drill · cold

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — to shout
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. cold — not warm
  5. drill — the tool
  6. clip — a video
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. season — in sport
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — wild animals
  13. clip — for paper
  14. season — of the year
  15. rock — a stone
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rock — music
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. drill — army training
  21. clip — to cut
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. drill — a practice
  24. game — a match

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