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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. track — to keep track
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. swing — music
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. cold — an illness
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. bark — to shout
  10. drill — army training
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. track — a path
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pit — a hole
  16. chip — to eat
  17. chip — for betting
  18. track — a song
  19. cold — not warm
  20. swing — in golf
  21. drill — the tool
  22. pit — in a race
  23. drill — a practice
  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