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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 120 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: lie · spell · club · wind · content · row · bark · cell

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. lie — to recline
  3. spell — a short time
  4. club — for golf
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. spell — letters
  11. spell — magic
  12. wind — moving air
  13. row — a line
  14. cell — in biology
  15. club — a group
  16. content — happy
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. club — for dancing
  19. bark — to shout
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wind — moving air
  23. row — to paddle
  24. cell — a phone

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