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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. rule — government
  5. capital — a city
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. stock — shares
  9. bat — the animal
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. roll — a cake
  14. wind — moving air
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. stock — goods
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. roll — a list
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. rule — a law
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bark — to shout

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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