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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: face · bowl · nail · squash · clip · bark · cell · root

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. cell — a phone
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. clip — to cut
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. face — to confront
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. clip — for paper
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. squash — the sport
  11. bark — to shout
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. root — of a word
  16. root — of a plant
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. face — part of the head
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. root — the cause
  23. clip — a video
  24. face — to point toward

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