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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. bark — to shout
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — for paper
  7. roll — a cake
  8. degree — an amount
  9. board — a committee
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. kid — to tease
  12. degree — from a university
  13. kid — child
  14. degree — temperature
  15. vault — a safe
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. roll — a list
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — a video
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. board — to get on
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. chest — of your 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