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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: capital · bark · saw · cold · spell · bay · stock · lash

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. spell — letters
  8. capital — a city
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. spell — a short time
  11. capital — money
  12. cold — an illness
  13. saw — the tool
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. spell — magic
  18. stock — shares
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. cold — not warm
  22. stock — goods
  23. saw — the tool
  24. bark — to shout

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