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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. squash — the sport
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a document
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. file — a line of people
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. branch — a division
  14. squash — to crush
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. content — happy
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. content — the amount
  21. bark — to shout
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. branch — 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