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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. sharp — clever
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. pitch — completely
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. content — happy
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. rock — music
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rock — a stone
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. shower — rain
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. scale — in music
  22. content — the amount
  23. scale — size or range
  24. bark — to shout

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