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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. scale — in music
  5. hand — help
  6. drill — a practice
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. hand — in cards
  10. bark — to shout
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. drill — army training
  16. drill — the tool
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. dip — to sink

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