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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. track — a song
  4. wound — an injury
  5. track — a path
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. track — to keep track
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. row — to paddle
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. snap — to click
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — thin
  22. bark — to shout
  23. row — a line
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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