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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: game · deal · tear · snap · bark · cell

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cell — a phone
  4. bark — to shout
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. tear — from crying
  9. game — a match
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. snap — to click
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cell — in biology
  14. deal — to handle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cell — in a prison

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