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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bark — to shout
  3. rule — government
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. spell — letters
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. stock — shares
  8. spell — magic
  9. mine — for digging
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rule — a law
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. spell — a short time
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. roll — a cake
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. stock — goods
  21. roll — a list
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. rule — to rule out

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