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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. chip — to eat
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. land — ground
  5. land — a country
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. game — a match
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pop — music
  13. pop — soda
  14. wound — an injury
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pop — to visit
  19. chip — for betting
  20. bear — the animal
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bear — the animal
  23. game — wild animals
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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