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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. wax — to grow
  5. cold — an illness
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. chest — a box
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. cold — not warm
  10. kid — to tease
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. kid — child
  19. bore — to drill
  20. mine — for digging
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. bore — to tire
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. chair — a leader

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