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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. season — in sport
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. snap — to click
  7. bark — to shout
  8. capital — money
  9. cell — a phone
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. roll — a list
  13. wound — an injury
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. capital — a city
  19. wound — an injury
  20. season — of the year
  21. roll — a cake
  22. branch — a division
  23. cell — in biology
  24. roll — on a roll

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