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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 116 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. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. charge — in control
  3. bark — to shout
  4. game — a match
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. charge — a price
  14. net — after costs
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. game — wild animals
  17. net — in sport
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. net — for catching
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. charge — electricity
  22. snap — to click
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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