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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: bear · craft · bat · object · bound · bark · land · clip

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. land — a country
  3. object — an aim
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bear — the animal
  6. bear — the animal
  7. object — to protest
  8. land — ground
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — the animal
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. bark — to shout
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. clip — to cut
  15. craft — a skill
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. land — to come down
  19. object — a thing
  20. bound — tied together
  21. craft — boats
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. bound — certain

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