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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 120 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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. content — happy
  4. root — of a plant
  5. root — the cause
  6. cold — not warm
  7. file — a tool
  8. spell — a short time
  9. file — a document
  10. rule — government
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. content — the amount
  15. rule — a law
  16. file — a line of people
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. spell — letters
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. root — of a word
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. bark — to shout

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