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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. pop — music
  3. perch — the fish
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. row — a line
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. root — the cause
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. root — of a plant
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. root — of a word
  18. pop — to visit
  19. row — to paddle
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. bark — to shout
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pop — soda
  24. row — a quarrel

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