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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: bark · rule · season · chest · race · current · clip · chair

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. chest — a box
  4. rule — a law
  5. race — the arms race
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. season — in sport
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chair — a leader
  10. clip — for paper
  11. season — of the year
  12. current — electric
  13. race — a contest
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. current — of water
  16. rule — government
  17. clip — a video
  18. bark — to shout
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. chest — of your body
  21. clip — to cut
  22. race — humankind
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. current — happening now

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