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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. ground — the earth
  4. bark — to shout
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. ground — crushed
  7. shower — to wash
  8. scale — size or range
  9. fine — all right
  10. scale — in music
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. game — wild animals
  13. shower — rain
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — the animal
  18. fine — high quality
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. pound — a weight
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. ground — a position
  23. game — a match
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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