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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: swing · sharp · tear · pop · net · clip · bark · fall

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. swing — music
  4. net — in sport
  5. clip — to cut
  6. net — after costs
  7. pop — soda
  8. clip — a video
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. clip — for paper
  11. sharp — clever
  12. swing — to play on
  13. tear — from crying
  14. net — for catching
  15. pop — music
  16. fall — to drop
  17. bark — to shout
  18. swing — in golf
  19. pop — to visit
  20. tear — to rip
  21. fall — the season
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. tear — from crying
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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