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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: bark · wind · scale · snap · vault · prune · hand · content

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. content — happy
  5. prune — to trim
  6. wind — moving air
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. snap — to click
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. hand — in cards
  12. vault — a safe
  13. wind — moving air
  14. content — the amount
  15. bark — to shout
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. hand — help
  20. scale — in music
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. scale — size or range
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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