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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: capital · cabinet · game · land · season · ground · bark · row

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. ground — the earth
  4. bark — to shout
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. capital — money
  8. ground — crushed
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. land — a country
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. row — to paddle
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. capital — a city
  16. ground — a position
  17. row — a line
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. season — of the year
  20. season — in sport
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. game — wild animals

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