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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 · season · cell · land · bay · racket · chest · prune

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. land — to come down
  4. season — of the year
  5. bark — to shout
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cell — a phone
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. season — in sport
  12. chest — a box
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. land — ground
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. cell — in biology
  22. land — a country
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. chest — of your body

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