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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. bound — obliged
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. kid — to tease
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. spell — magic
  8. kid — child
  9. spell — a short time
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. spell — letters
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. degree — from a university
  14. charge — a price
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. charge — in control
  17. bark — to shout
  18. degree — an amount
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. wake — a trail
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bound — tied together
  24. bound — certain

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