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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. hand — help
  4. spell — letters
  5. capital — money
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. file — a tool
  9. bark — to shout
  10. hand — in cards
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. bound — tied together
  14. spell — a short time
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. spell — magic
  17. bound — certain
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. capital — a city
  22. deal — to handle
  23. bound — obliged
  24. file — a document

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