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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 speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. spring — a coil
  4. net — for catching
  5. row — a line
  6. chest — of your body
  7. net — in sport
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. chest — of your body
  12. row — to paddle
  13. bark — to shout
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. capital — a city
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — of water
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. rush — hurry
  21. net — after costs
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. chest — a box
  24. capital — money

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