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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. band — a music group
  5. hand — help
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. content — happy
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. hand — in cards
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. band — a ring
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wake — a trail
  19. pop — music
  20. foot — a measure
  21. pop — soda
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. pop — to visit
  24. cold — not warm

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