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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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. file — a tool
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. shower — to wash
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. staff — employees
  8. spring — the season
  9. bass — low music
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. spring — a coil
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bass — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. file — a document
  21. perch — the fish
  22. shower — rain
  23. spring — of water
  24. staff — employees

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