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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. pop — soda
  5. pop — to visit
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. squash — the sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bark — to shout
  10. perch — the fish
  11. cold — not warm
  12. squash — to crush
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. stock — goods
  15. stock — shares
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. pop — music
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. ruler — a monarch
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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