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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. spring — of water
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. bark — to shout
  7. spring — the season
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — child
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. spring — a coil
  16. row — to paddle
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. perch — the fish
  19. row — a line
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. kid — to tease
  24. perch — for a bird

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