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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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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: root · last · straw · row · wind · bark · bear · pitcher

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. bear — the animal
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. root — of a word
  8. root — of a plant
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. last — final
  11. bark — to shout
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. row — to paddle
  17. last — to go on
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. root — the cause
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. row — a line
  23. last — finally
  24. straw — a straw man

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