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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 a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. dip — to sink
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. spring — of water
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. pound — a weight
  9. spring — the season
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. content — happy
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. game — a match
  16. chest — a box
  17. fork — in a road
  18. content — the amount
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. bark — to shout
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chest — of your body
  24. game — a kind of play

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