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

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. root — of a word
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. root — of a plant
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. cold — an illness
  11. root — the cause
  12. shower — rain
  13. ground — a position
  14. shower — to wash
  15. ground — the earth
  16. bark — to shout
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — the Cold War

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