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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. net — after costs
  4. spell — letters
  5. hand — in cards
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. shower — to wash
  9. net — in sport
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. spell — a short time
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. net — for catching
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. hand — help
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. spell — magic
  20. fork — in a road
  21. content — happy
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. content — the amount
  24. bark — of a tree

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