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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. march — the month
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. swing — to play on
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. snap — to click
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. swing — music
  10. bark — to shout
  11. swing — in golf
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. bulb — for light
  14. bulb — for light
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a line of people
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. file — a tool
  19. march — music
  20. plane — a tool
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. march — the month
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. bark — of a tree

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