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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bark — to shout
  5. tear — from crying
  6. race — a contest
  7. court — of a king
  8. court — for sport
  9. spell — letters
  10. court — of law
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. spell — magic
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — the arms race
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. row — to paddle

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