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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. lean — to bend
  3. ground — the earth
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. season — in sport
  6. hand — in cards
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. tear — to rip
  10. spring — of water
  11. hand — help
  12. key — for a lock
  13. tear — from crying
  14. key — in music
  15. ground — a position
  16. bark — to shout
  17. lean — thin
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — a coil
  21. season — of the year
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. key — the most important part

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