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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: pound · wind · bulb · snap · bark · content · charge · march

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. wind — moving air
  5. march — the month
  6. charge — a price
  7. bulb — for light
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. bulb — for light
  12. pound — a weight
  13. march — music
  14. content — the amount
  15. snap — to click
  16. bark — to shout
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. charge — electricity
  21. charge — in control
  22. wind — moving air
  23. march — the month
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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