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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: clip · bark · land · tear · safe · track · foot · kid

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. clip — to cut
  3. track — a path
  4. clip — a video
  5. kid — child
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. track — to keep track
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. clip — for paper
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — ground
  13. tear — from crying
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. land — a country
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. foot — a measure
  20. track — a song
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. bark — to shout
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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