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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. present — a gift
  3. bark — to shout
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. present — the time now
  6. march — the month
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. march — the month
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. shower — to wash
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. last — finally
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. last — to go on
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. last — final
  17. march — music
  18. present — there
  19. wind — moving air
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. pound — a weight
  22. shower — rain
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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