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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: sharp · pound · bark · pitcher · cell · hand · rock · current

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. rock — music
  3. bark — to shout
  4. hand — in cards
  5. current — happening now
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. current — electric
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. pound — a weight
  12. sharp — clever
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in biology
  23. current — of water
  24. rock — a stone

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