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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. lean — thin
  3. snap — to click
  4. bear — the animal
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. ground — a position
  8. cold — not warm
  9. stock — goods
  10. capital — a city
  11. stock — shares
  12. capital — money
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. lean — to bend
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. cold — an illness
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. ground — the earth
  24. bear — the animal

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