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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. tear — from crying
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. race — the arms race
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bulb — for light
  9. tear — to rip
  10. bulb — for light
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. content — happy
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. cold — not warm
  16. perch — the fish
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. shower — to wash
  19. shower — rain
  20. race — a contest
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. race — humankind
  24. tear — from crying

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