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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bass — low music
  4. drill — the tool
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. cold — an illness
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. sharp — clever
  10. drill — a practice
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. chip — for betting
  14. chip — to eat
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bark — to shout
  21. bass — the fish
  22. cold — not warm
  23. drill — army training
  24. date — the fruit

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