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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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  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 — to shout
  2. cold — not warm
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. file — a line of people
  6. board — a committee
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. board — to get on
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. capital — money
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. capital — a city
  18. file — a tool
  19. chest — a box
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. file — a document
  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