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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cold — an illness
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. key — for a lock
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. press — a publisher
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. game — a match
  13. press — newspapers
  14. key — the most important part
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. key — in music
  18. board — a committee
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. march — the month
  21. bark — to shout
  22. board — to get on
  23. game — wild animals
  24. press — to push

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