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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. land — to come down
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. stock — goods
  6. scale — size or range
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. bark — to shout
  9. plane — a tool
  10. stock — shares
  11. scale — in music
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mine — for digging
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. land — a country
  24. land — ground

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