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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. ground — crushed
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. scale — size or range
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. scale — in music
  7. bark — to shout
  8. land — ground
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. kid — child
  11. ground — the earth
  12. land — to come down
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. snap — to click
  17. march — the month
  18. land — a country
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. march — music
  21. ground — a position
  22. kid — to tease
  23. march — the month
  24. deal — to handle

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