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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. pit — in a race
  7. stock — shares
  8. row — a line
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. cue — a hint
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. row — to paddle
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. bark — to shout
  19. pit — a hole
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. cue — for pool
  22. cue — a signal
  23. hand — help
  24. stock — goods

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