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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. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. file — a tool
  10. stand — to bear
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. bark — to shout
  14. content — the amount
  15. file — a line of people
  16. content — happy
  17. perch — the fish
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. file — a document
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. mine — for digging
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. mine — belonging to me

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