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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 cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. last — final
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. band — a music group
  9. last — finally
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. bark — to shout
  12. season — of the year
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. prune — to trim
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. cold — not warm
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. last — to go on
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. band — a ring
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. season — in sport

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