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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. perch — the fish
  4. land — ground
  5. track — a song
  6. track — a path
  7. cold — not warm
  8. dip — to sink
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bark — to shout
  13. roll — a list
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. track — to keep track
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. land — a country
  22. land — to come down
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. roll — a cake

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