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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. net — for catching
  3. cap — a hat
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. net — in sport
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. wake — a trail
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. net — after costs
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. bat — the animal
  18. row — to paddle
  19. cap — a lid
  20. row — a line
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. cap — of ice

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