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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: band · rash · tube · pound · hide · clip · bark · kid

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. pound — a weight
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. clip — to cut
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. clip — a video
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. tube — a container
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. rash — a series
  16. tube — the underground
  17. band — a music group
  18. band — a ring
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. kid — child
  21. rash — hasty
  22. kid — to tease
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bark — to shout

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