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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. wound — an injury
  6. ground — crushed
  7. snap — to click
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. cold — not warm
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. bark — to shout
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. ground — a position
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ground — the earth

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