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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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468
Word bank
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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. kid — child
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. content — happy
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bark — to shout
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. chair — a leader
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. content — the amount
  12. ball — a great time
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. cold — an illness
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. ball — a dance
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. chair — a professorship

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