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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. ball — a great time
  5. squash — the sport
  6. mark — a trace
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. ground — crushed
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stock — goods
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. bark — to shout
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. ground — the earth
  15. mark — a grade
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. ground — a position
  18. cold — an illness
  19. squash — to crush
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. stock — shares
  22. ball — a dance
  23. rash — a series
  24. rash — hasty

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