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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. plane — a tool
  4. bark — to shout
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cell — a phone
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. drill — a practice
  13. present — a gift
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. present — there
  17. wake — a trail
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. drill — army training
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. drill — the tool
  24. present — the time now

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