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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. rash — hasty
  3. row — a line
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bark — to shout
  8. wound — an injury
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. key — in music
  12. key — for a lock
  13. bulb — for light
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bulb — for light
  17. key — the most important part
  18. cold — an illness
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. rash — a series
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. wake — before a funeral

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