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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  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. content — happy
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. bark — to shout
  5. content — the amount
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. foot — a measure
  8. rule — government
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. pound — a weight
  13. kid — to tease
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. rule — a law
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. lean — to bend
  19. wound — an injury
  20. lean — thin
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. kid — child
  23. lean — to rest against
  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