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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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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: bore · hand · bear · field · clip · swing · band · bark

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. swing — to play on
  3. bear — the animal
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. field — farmland
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bear — the animal
  8. swing — music
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. field — a subject
  11. hand — help
  12. field — for sport
  13. bore — to tire
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. band — a ring
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bore — to drill
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. band — a music group
  22. clip — a video
  23. hand — in cards
  24. swing — in golf

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