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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. scale — size or range
  6. chest — of your body
  7. craft — a skill
  8. chest — a box
  9. snap — to click
  10. chest — of your body
  11. craft — boats
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. row — to paddle
  15. file — a document
  16. scale — in music
  17. bear — the animal
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. bark — to shout
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. file — a line of people
  22. row — a line
  23. file — a tool
  24. bear — the animal

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