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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. game — wild animals
  8. wound — an injury
  9. content — happy
  10. wound — an injury
  11. content — the amount
  12. game — a match
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. bark — to shout
  18. ball — a great time
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. ball — a dance
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. trunk — of a tree

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