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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: row · spring · net · last · game · bound · chair · bark

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. game — wild animals
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. net — in sport
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. net — for catching
  9. net — after costs
  10. bark — to shout
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — a match
  13. spring — of water
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. bound — obliged
  16. spring — a coil
  17. last — finally
  18. bound — tied together
  19. chair — a leader
  20. bound — certain
  21. row — to paddle
  22. last — to go on
  23. row — a line
  24. last — final

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