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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. band — a music group
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. last — final
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. dip — to sink
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. bark — to shout
  11. capital — a city
  12. land — to come down
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. band — a ring
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. land — a country
  17. last — finally
  18. capital — money
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. last — to go on
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. land — ground
  24. band — a rubber band

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