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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. snap — to click
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. cold — an illness
  8. last — final
  9. cold — not warm
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. stock — shares
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. scale — in music
  17. last — to go on
  18. last — finally
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. fork — in a road
  21. scale — size or range
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. stock — goods
  24. fork — to eat with

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