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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: kid · land · leaves · drill · clip · rock · bark · game

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. land — a country
  4. game — wild animals
  5. drill — the tool
  6. rock — a stone
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. land — ground
  9. kid — child
  10. rock — music
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. drill — army training
  16. game — a match
  17. land — to come down
  18. clip — for paper
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bark — to shout
  21. drill — a practice
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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