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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 120 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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. chest — a box
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. craft — a skill
  6. chest — of your body
  7. craft — boats
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. content — the amount
  16. cue — for pool
  17. rash — hasty
  18. wound — an injury
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cue — a hint
  24. content — happy

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