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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: mark · bark · cold · clip · mine · wave · calf · press

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mine — for digging
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bark — to shout
  6. mark — a trace
  7. clip — to cut
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. cold — an illness
  10. press — a publisher
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. clip — a video
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. press — newspapers
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. press — to push
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mark — a grade
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. mine — an explosive

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