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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: foot · chest · leaves · clip · bark · scale · mine · pound

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  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. mine — belonging to me
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. foot — a measure
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — for paper
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. mine — for digging
  12. clip — a video
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. scale — size or range
  16. chest — a box
  17. bark — to shout
  18. pound — a weight
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. clip — to cut
  23. pound — for dogs
  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