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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: snap · straw · trunk · tear · bark · fork · shower · pitcher

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. tear — from crying
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. bark — to shout
  6. shower — to wash
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. tear — from crying
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. fork — in a road
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — rain
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. tear — to rip
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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