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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. spring — the season
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. spring — a coil
  9. wind — moving air
  10. stock — shares
  11. spring — of water
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. ground — crushed
  15. stock — goods
  16. content — happy
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — to shout
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. stem — to come from
  21. ground — the earth
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. content — the amount
  24. wind — moving air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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