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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: cell · bark · pop · spring · sharp · game · branch · pitch

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. sharp — clever
  5. bark — to shout
  6. pitch — completely
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. branch — a division
  14. game — wild animals
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cell — a phone
  18. pop — soda
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. game — a match
  21. cell — in biology
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. pop — music

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