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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. date — the fruit
  7. bark — to shout
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. squash — to crush
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. scale — size or range
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. scale — in music
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. pound — a weight
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. mine — for digging
  24. squash — the 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