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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 116 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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. court — for sport
  4. mate — to breed
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — ground
  7. court — of a king
  8. shower — rain
  9. mate — a friend
  10. ground — crushed
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. bat — the animal
  15. shower — to wash
  16. snap — to click
  17. land — a country
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. court — of law
  20. ground — the earth
  21. ground — a position
  22. mate — a partner
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. bat — in an idiom

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