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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bark — to shout
  5. stand — to bear
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. club — for dancing
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. club — for golf
  10. cold — not warm
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. club — a group
  16. sharp — clever
  17. spell — magic
  18. rush — hurry
  19. spell — letters
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spell — a short time
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bat — the animal

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