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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. cap — a hat
  4. cap — a lid
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. land — to come down
  7. row — a line
  8. ground — a position
  9. sharp — clever
  10. ground — crushed
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cap — of ice
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. land — a country
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bound — certain
  17. bound — tied together
  18. bark — to shout
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. land — ground
  22. ground — the earth
  23. bound — obliged
  24. cell — in biology

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