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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cell — in biology
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. squash — to crush
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. cold — an illness
  7. rock — a stone
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cell — a phone
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. capital — a city
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. bark — to shout
  16. branch — a division
  17. capital — money
  18. rock — music
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. squash — the sport

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