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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. bark — to shout
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. ground — the earth
  6. ground — crushed
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. pit — in a race
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pit — a hole
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. rash — a series
  13. ground — a position
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. file — a tool
  19. rash — hasty
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. hand — help
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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