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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bark — to shout
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. swing — to play on
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. stock — shares
  11. lean — thin
  12. swing — music
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. chest — a box
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. swing — in golf
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. stock — goods
  23. lean — to bend
  24. lean — to rest against

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