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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: bat · spring · dip · chair · hide · game · bark · row

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. row — a line
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. game — wild animals
  10. bat — the animal
  11. game — a match
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — the season
  16. dip — to sink
  17. bark — to shout
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. chair — a leader
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. bark — of a tree

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