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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. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. tear — from crying
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. root — the cause
  9. stock — shares
  10. tear — to rip
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. spring — the season
  13. stock — goods
  14. bark — to shout
  15. game — wild animals
  16. spring — of water
  17. root — of a plant
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. game — a match
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. root — of a word
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. spring — a coil

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