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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. bark — to shout
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. wound — an injury
  10. row — a line
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. root — the cause
  14. root — of a word
  15. bass — the fish
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. spring — of water
  20. row — to paddle
  21. root — of a plant
  22. saw — the tool
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. saw — the tool

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