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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. bound — certain
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bound — tied together
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. bark — to shout
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. bound — obliged
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — crushed
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. stem — to come from
  20. cold — an illness
  21. ground — a position
  22. date — the fruit
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. chair — a leader

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