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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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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: drill · stem · content · last · squash · pound · bark · chest

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. squash — the sport
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. content — the amount
  7. drill — the tool
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. last — to go on
  10. chest — of your body
  11. drill — army training
  12. last — finally
  13. chest — of your body
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. drill — a practice
  16. content — happy
  17. bark — to shout
  18. stem — to come from
  19. pound — a weight
  20. squash — to crush
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. chest — a box
  24. stem — a stem cell

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