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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: bark · bowl · spring · branch · row · file · rash · content

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. spring — the season
  3. file — a document
  4. file — a tool
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. content — happy
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. spring — a coil
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. row — a line
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. row — to paddle
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. spring — of water
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. branch — a division
  24. content — the amount

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