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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 · last · capital · bat · rock · game · land · hand

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. game — wild animals
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. land — a country
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. land — ground
  7. bat — the animal
  8. last — finally
  9. last — final
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. capital — a city
  12. hand — help
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bark — to shout
  16. capital — money
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. hand — in cards
  19. land — to come down
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. last — to go on
  22. rock — a stone
  23. game — a match
  24. rock — music

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