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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 120 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: wind · bay · cue · swing · bear · content · land · bark

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. cue — a signal
  3. cue — for pool
  4. cue — a hint
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bark — to shout
  7. swing — to play on
  8. content — happy
  9. swing — in golf
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. bear — the animal
  12. content — the amount
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. land — to come down
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. land — a country
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. land — ground
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. swing — music
  24. bear — the 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