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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. branch — a division
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. wake — a trail
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. ground — a position
  9. bat — the animal
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wind — moving air
  15. bark — to shout
  16. ground — the earth
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. scale — size or range
  19. scale — in music
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. ground — crushed
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. wind — moving air

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