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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 116 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: sharp · cold · leaves · march · stock · mark · hand · bark

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. stock — goods
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. mark — a trace
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. march — music
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mark — a grade
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. hand — help
  21. march — the month
  22. sharp — clever
  23. stock — shares
  24. leaves — of a tree

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