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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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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: scale · vault · clip · arm · race · mine · bark · swing

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. clip — for paper
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. scale — size or range
  6. vault — a safe
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. race — the arms race
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. mine — for digging
  13. swing — to play on
  14. clip — a video
  15. race — humankind
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — to shout
  18. swing — in golf
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. clip — to cut
  21. race — a contest
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. swing — music
  24. scale — in music

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