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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · lean · bark · capital · file · stick

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. bark — to shout
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. lean — thin
  11. file — a line of people
  12. lean — to bend
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kick — in football
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a tool
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. stick — a piece of wood

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