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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. 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. capital — a big letter
  2. spell — a short time
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. content — happy
  6. bark — to shout
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. content — the amount
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. capital — a city
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. spell — letters
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. spell — magic
  16. capital — money
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. 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