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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. stock — shares
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. ground — a position
  5. bark — to shout
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. stock — goods
  9. row — a line
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. ground — the earth
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. ground — crushed
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. row — to paddle
  19. bore — to drill
  20. game — a match
  21. wound — an injury
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bore — to tire

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