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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. ground — crushed
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. tube — the underground
  5. ground — a position
  6. bore — to drill
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. capital — a city
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. court — of a king
  12. court — for sport
  13. dip — to sink
  14. cold — an illness
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. tube — a container
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. court — of law
  22. ground — the earth
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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