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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: hide · calf · bat · pound · row · bark · clip · spring

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. spring — of water
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. clip — a video
  10. bark — to shout
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spring — the season
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. row — to paddle
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pound — a weight
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. clip — to cut

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