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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 120 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 · wind · bark · face · bowl · coach · kick · game

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. clip — to cut
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. game — a match
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. face — to confront
  13. face — part of the head
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. clip — a video
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. kick — in football
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. game — wild animals
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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