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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. bark — to shout
  5. shower — to wash
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. fall — the season
  8. fall — to drop
  9. staff — employees
  10. chip — to eat
  11. cold — not warm
  12. chip — for betting
  13. fork — in a road
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. net — in sport
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cold — an illness
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. net — for catching
  21. net — after costs
  22. staff — a stick
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. shower — rain

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