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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. chest — of your body
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. drill — army training
  5. bark — to shout
  6. court — for sport
  7. chest — a box
  8. date — the fruit
  9. court — of law
  10. saw — the tool
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. chest — of your body
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. drill — a practice
  15. court — of a king
  16. drill — the tool
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. saw — past of 'see'

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