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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. shower — rain
  3. capital — a city
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a line
  8. date — the fruit
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. prune — to trim
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. sharp — clever
  14. snap — to click
  15. prune — to trim
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. capital — money
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. shower — to wash
  22. bark — to shout
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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