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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. kid — child
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. spring — a coil
  5. stand — to bear
  6. prune — to trim
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. mine — for digging
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. tube — the underground
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. kid — to tease
  15. bark — to shout
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. tube — a container
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. spring — the season
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. spring — of water

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