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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 120 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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. bass — low music
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. bass — the fish
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pit — a hole
  18. prune — to trim
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. bat — the animal
  21. land — a country
  22. pit — in a race
  23. fork — in a road
  24. cold — an illness

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