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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 116 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: clip · pitch · bark · pop · board · cold · racket · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. pop — music
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bark — to shout
  8. cold — an illness
  9. board — to get on
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pop — soda
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. content — happy
  17. clip — to cut
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. board — a committee
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. pitch — completely
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. clip — a video

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