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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 120 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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  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. bark — of a tree
  2. season — in sport
  3. staff — employees
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. staff — a stick
  6. ground — the earth
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. cold — an illness
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bark — to shout
  11. prune — to trim
  12. season — of the year
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. ground — crushed
  15. staff — employees
  16. cold — not warm
  17. ground — a position
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cell — in biology
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. branch — a division
  23. prune — to trim
  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