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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: march · branch · bat · bark · ground · roll · cold · rock

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. march — the month
  3. ground — the earth
  4. rock — a stone
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. roll — a list
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rock — music
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. bat — the animal
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. ground — a position
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. bark — to shout
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. ground — crushed
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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