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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 116 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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bark — to shout
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. march — music
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. clip — for paper
  7. staff — a stick
  8. staff — employees
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. staff — employees
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stock — goods
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. march — the month
  18. cell — in biology
  19. march — the month
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stock — shares
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cold — an illness

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