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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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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: bowl · game · branch · race · calf · bark · spell · hand

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. spell — letters
  3. race — the arms race
  4. spell — a short time
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. game — a match
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. game — wild animals
  10. hand — help
  11. race — a contest
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. hand — in cards
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. race — humankind
  19. spell — magic
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. branch — a division
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. bark — to shout
  24. calf — a young animal

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