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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: wake · dip · pitcher · cold · bark · craft · branch · court

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. branch — a division
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. bark — to shout
  7. cold — an illness
  8. craft — a skill
  9. cold — not warm
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. wake — a trail
  16. court — for sport
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. court — of law
  22. dip — to sink
  23. court — of a king
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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