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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. prune — to trim
  5. race — humankind
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. roll — a cake
  9. roll — a list
  10. content — happy
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — a contest
  15. fall — to drop
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. cold — not warm
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. mark — a trace
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. mark — a grade
  24. content — the amount

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