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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bat — the animal
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. net — after costs
  6. spring — a coil
  7. hand — in cards
  8. key — in music
  9. net — in sport
  10. wound — an injury
  11. key — for a lock
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. wound — an injury
  14. key — the most important part
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. spring — of water
  18. hand — help
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. spring — the season
  22. net — for catching
  23. bark — to shout
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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