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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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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 · stick · race · bark · saw · cold · mark · pitcher

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — humankind
  9. saw — the tool
  10. bark — to shout
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. cold — an illness
  13. race — the arms race
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mark — a grade
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. mark — a trace
  22. saw — the tool
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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