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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: land · bark · rule · lash · band · stock · wind · clip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. wind — moving air
  4. land — a country
  5. land — to come down
  6. clip — a video
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. bark — to shout
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a ring
  12. land — ground
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. rule — government
  16. clip — for paper
  17. rule — a law
  18. stock — goods
  19. stock — shares
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. wind — moving air
  24. lash — an eyelash

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