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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: track · clip · rock · rest · bark · land · spring · pitcher

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. land — a country
  3. rock — music
  4. track — a song
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. clip — for paper
  7. land — ground
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bark — to shout
  10. rest — what's left
  11. track — a path
  12. rock — a stone
  13. track — to keep track
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. rest — what's left
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. land — to come down
  18. clip — to cut
  19. spring — a coil
  20. rest — a break
  21. spring — of water
  22. clip — a video
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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