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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: mark · bark · squash · chair · saw · row · cell · capital

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. squash — to crush
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cell — in biology
  5. bark — to shout
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. capital — a city
  10. capital — money
  11. saw — the tool
  12. mark — a grade
  13. cell — a phone
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. saw — the tool
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. mark — a trace
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. row — to paddle
  22. squash — the sport
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. row — a line

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