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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. kid — child
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. cold — not warm
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. stock — goods
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bore — to drill
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. hand — in cards
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. bore — to tire
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. kid — to tease
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bark — to shout
  24. stock — shares

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