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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. capital — money
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. saw — the tool
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. hand — help
  7. can — a tin
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. drill — the tool
  10. saw — the tool
  11. drill — army training
  12. root — the cause
  13. spring — a coil
  14. drill — a practice
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. spring — the season
  17. bark — to shout
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. can — to be able to
  20. hand — in cards
  21. spring — of water
  22. root — of a plant
  23. capital — a city
  24. can — a tin

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