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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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Word bank
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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: bark · snap · staff · bound · mine · wake · saw · swing

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — a stick
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bound — certain
  5. bound — tied together
  6. mine — for digging
  7. staff — employees
  8. snap — to click
  9. bark — to shout
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. saw — the tool
  12. bound — obliged
  13. swing — to play on
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. swing — in golf
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. wake — a trail
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. swing — music

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