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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. rock — music
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. cell — a phone
  5. pound — a weight
  6. spring — a coil
  7. net — in sport
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. squash — to crush
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. rock — a stone
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. spring — of water
  15. bark — to shout
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cell — in biology
  18. net — after costs
  19. net — for catching
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. spring — the season
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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