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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. stock — goods
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. fall — to drop
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. fall — the season
  11. bark — to shout
  12. stock — shares
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bat — the animal
  15. chest — a box
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. chest — of your body
  18. prune — to trim
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. kick — in football
  21. wake — a trail
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. fall — to drop
  24. wake — before a funeral

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