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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 116 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. content — happy
  4. mark — a grade
  5. snap — to click
  6. bound — obliged
  7. bark — to shout
  8. content — the amount
  9. mark — a trace
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. rule — a law
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. hand — help
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. branch — a division
  22. bound — tied together
  23. bound — certain
  24. rule — to rule out

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