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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. court — for sport
  5. spring — a coil
  6. court — of a king
  7. ground — crushed
  8. swing — in golf
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — the earth
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. saw — the tool
  15. swing — to play on
  16. season — of the year
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. bark — to shout
  19. spring — the season
  20. saw — the tool
  21. spring — of water
  22. swing — music
  23. court — of law
  24. season — in 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