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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. lean — thin
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. lean — to bend
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. bark — to shout
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bear — the animal
  11. file — a line of people
  12. pit — in a race
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. bear — the animal
  15. file — a document
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. pit — a hole
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. stem — to come from
  20. capital — a city
  21. file — a tool
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — of a plant

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