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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. scale — in music
  3. rock — music
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bore — to drill
  7. scale — size or range
  8. shower — rain
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. bark — to shout
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cold — an illness
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — happy
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. bore — to tire
  19. board — to get on
  20. rock — a stone
  21. shower — to wash
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. board — a committee
  24. cold — the Cold War

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