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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. club — for dancing
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. wound — an injury
  7. scale — in music
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. club — for golf
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — the animal
  12. scale — size or range
  13. land — to come down
  14. bark — to shout
  15. land — ground
  16. chip — to eat
  17. sharp — clever
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. land — a country
  23. club — a group
  24. chip — for betting

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