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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. drill — army training
  4. row — a line
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. spell — letters
  7. drill — a practice
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. present — a gift
  11. spell — a short time
  12. rest — a break
  13. rest — what's left
  14. row — to paddle
  15. rest — what's left
  16. drill — the tool
  17. present — the time now
  18. present — there
  19. ground — crushed
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. spell — magic
  22. bark — to shout
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. ground — the earth

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