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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: bound · cold · ground · perch · stem · bass · bat · bark

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. stem — to come from
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bark — to shout
  5. bound — certain
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bound — tied together
  11. ground — crushed
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bass — low music
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. ground — the earth
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. bound — obliged
  22. perch — the fish
  23. ground — a position
  24. cold — an illness

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