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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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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: bark · prune · clip · cold · kid · board · snap · arm

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. snap — to click
  9. clip — to cut
  10. board — a committee
  11. bark — to shout
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. clip — for paper
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. prune — to trim
  16. board — to get on
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kid — child
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. clip — a video
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. cold — an illness
  24. kid — to tease

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