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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: hand · bark · bat · race · chip · mark · march · root

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. mark — a trace
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. root — the cause
  5. march — the month
  6. race — humankind
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — the animal
  12. root — of a plant
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. race — the arms race
  15. hand — help
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. race — a contest
  18. mark — a grade
  19. march — music
  20. chip — to eat
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. chip — for betting
  23. hand — in cards
  24. root — of a word

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