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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. capital — a city
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. board — to get on
  8. spring — the season
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. roll — a cake
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. board — a committee
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. plane — a tool
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bark — to shout
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. capital — money

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