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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: toast · bark · hand · pitcher · rule · can · race · nail

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. hand — help
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. bark — to shout
  6. race — humankind
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. hand — in cards
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. rule — a law
  14. can — a tin
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. can — a tin
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. rule — government
  21. race — the arms race
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. can — to be able to
  24. race — a contest

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