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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. scale — in music
  3. bark — to shout
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. spring — a coil
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. spring — of water
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. kid — child
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. kid — to tease
  13. spring — the season
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. scale — size or range
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. current — electric
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. current — of water
  23. current — happening now
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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