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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 116 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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. spring — the season
  3. stock — shares
  4. scale — in music
  5. spring — a coil
  6. spring — of water
  7. stock — goods
  8. bat — the animal
  9. kid — child
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. scale — size or range
  14. land — to come down
  15. row — to paddle
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bark — to shout
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. land — a country
  21. row — a line
  22. land — ground
  23. kid — to tease
  24. row — a quarrel

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