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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. tube — a container
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cold — an illness
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. land — ground
  10. cold — not warm
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. bark — to shout
  17. vault — a safe
  18. land — a country
  19. root — of a plant
  20. land — to come down
  21. root — the cause
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. cold — the Cold War

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