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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: coach · mine · dip · pound · rule · bark · branch · spell

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. rule — government
  4. pound — a weight
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bark — to shout
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. rule — a law
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. branch — a division
  20. dip — to sink
  21. spell — a short time
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. mine — for digging
  24. spell — magic

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