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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. pop — music
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. tube — a container
  7. pop — to visit
  8. tube — the underground
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — the earth
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. bark — to shout
  13. chest — of your body
  14. spring — of water
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. chest — of your body
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. spring — the season
  23. ground — crushed
  24. pop — soda

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