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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 116 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bark — to shout
  4. cold — an illness
  5. kid — child
  6. lean — to bend
  7. row — to paddle
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. spell — magic
  12. spell — a short time
  13. scale — in music
  14. cell — a phone
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. kid — to tease
  17. lean — thin
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. row — a line
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. spell — letters
  24. cell — in biology

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