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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 120 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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bat — the animal
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. fall — the season
  8. band — a ring
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. fall — to drop
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. fall — to drop
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. bark — to shout
  18. temple — a place of worship

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