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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  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. row — a line
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. shower — to wash
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. content — the amount
  7. game — a match
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. band — a ring
  10. row — to paddle
  11. wound — an injury
  12. shower — rain
  13. pit — in a race
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. content — happy
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pit — a hole
  21. band — a music group
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bark — to shout

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