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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. row — a line
  3. tear — to rip
  4. hand — in cards
  5. current — electric
  6. current — of water
  7. stock — shares
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bark — to shout
  10. ground — the earth
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. ground — crushed
  14. ground — a position
  15. stock — goods
  16. tear — from crying
  17. current — happening now
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. hand — part of the 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