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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bear — the animal
  5. drill — a practice
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bark — to shout
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. dip — to sink
  12. drill — the tool
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. capital — money
  15. drill — army training
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. capital — a city

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