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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 · current · bark · hide · court · track · wound · stem

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. clip — a video
  3. current — happening now
  4. stem — to come from
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. current — of water
  8. court — for sport
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. bark — to shout
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. court — of law
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. clip — for paper
  16. track — a song
  17. clip — to cut
  18. court — of a king
  19. wound — an injury
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. current — electric
  23. track — to keep track
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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