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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 116 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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bark — to shout
  4. ground — a position
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — ground
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. land — a country
  9. pop — music
  10. pop — to visit
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. wind — moving air
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. chair — a leader
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. pop — soda
  19. ground — the earth
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. ground — crushed
  22. mine — for digging
  23. wind — moving air
  24. hide — to keep secret

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