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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. tube — the underground
  4. cold — an illness
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. pass — a permit
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. tube — a container
  10. shower — to wash
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bark — to shout
  14. mug — to rob
  15. row — a line
  16. mug — a cup
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. shower — rain
  20. row — to paddle
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. pass — to succeed
  24. pass — to spend time

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