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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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. spring — the season
  5. bound — tied together
  6. ground — the earth
  7. sharp — clever
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — army training
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. ground — crushed
  12. capital — a city
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bound — obliged
  17. ground — a position
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. capital — money
  20. spring — of water
  21. drill — a practice
  22. bound — certain
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. chest — of your body

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