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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. bark — to shout
  3. spring — of water
  4. land — ground
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. land — a country
  7. degree — from a university
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. spring — the season
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spring — a coil
  14. degree — temperature
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. stock — shares
  17. land — to come down
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. degree — an amount
  20. stock — goods
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wind — moving air
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. bark — of a tree

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