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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. stock — goods
  3. root — the cause
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. bark — to shout
  6. root — of a word
  7. march — music
  8. stock — shares
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cell — a phone
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. rash — hasty
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. rash — a series
  16. kid — child
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology
  19. root — of a plant
  20. march — the month
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. kid — to tease
  24. march — the month

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