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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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 — not warm
  3. key — for a lock
  4. ground — crushed
  5. bound — tied together
  6. key — in music
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ground — a position
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bound — certain
  12. bound — obliged
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ground — the earth
  16. key — the most important part
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bark — to shout
  19. clip — a video
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. pitch — completely
  22. bulb — for light
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitch — a sports field

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