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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: cold · pitcher · fork · safe · track · bark · snap · rule

  1. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. cold — not warm
  3. rule — a law
  4. snap — to click
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. track — a song
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. track — to keep track
  9. track — a path
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. rule — government
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. bark — to shout
  22. fork — in a road
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. bark — of a tree

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