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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. root — of a word
  5. root — of a plant
  6. bark — to shout
  7. court — of law
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. court — for sport
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. root — the cause
  18. court — of a king
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a city
  21. scale — size or range
  22. branch — a division
  23. scale — in music
  24. branch — of a tree

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