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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 116 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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. ground — a position
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. ground — crushed
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. file — a document
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. bark — to shout
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. file — a line of people
  13. shower — to wash
  14. ground — the earth
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. shower — rain
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. file — a tool
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. branch — a division
  22. dip — to sink
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. sharp — clever

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