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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: march · foot · bark · bear · land · kick · snap · prune

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. kick — in football
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. snap — to click
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. bear — the animal
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. land — to come down
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. land — ground
  16. prune — to trim
  17. foot — a measure
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. bear — the animal
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. land — a country

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