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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 120 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. cold — an illness
  4. spell — magic
  5. file — a tool
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. prune — to trim
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. bore — to tire
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. ball — a great time
  13. bore — to drill
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. ball — a dance
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a line of people
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. spell — a short time
  22. file — a document
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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