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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. drill — army training
  3. race — humankind
  4. bat — the animal
  5. game — a match
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. drill — a practice
  8. race — the arms race
  9. squash — to crush
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. squash — the sport
  12. row — a line
  13. game — wild animals
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. band — a ring
  17. race — a contest
  18. row — to paddle
  19. band — a music group
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. drill — the tool
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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