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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 120 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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. game — a match
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. press — a publisher
  8. bark — to shout
  9. cell — in biology
  10. press — to push
  11. hand — in cards
  12. hand — help
  13. game — wild animals
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cell — a phone
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. stand — to bear
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. press — newspapers

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