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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bark — to shout
  5. pop — to visit
  6. ground — the earth
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pop — music
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. ground — a position
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. land — to come down
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. ground — crushed
  15. land — a country
  16. pop — soda
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. wound — an injury

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