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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. file — a document
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. ground — the earth
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. row — a line
  18. ground — crushed
  19. bark — to shout
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wound — an injury
  24. row — a quarrel

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