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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. shower — rain
  3. cell — a phone
  4. bark — to shout
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. kid — to tease
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — child
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. shower — to wash
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. stand — to bear
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. row — to paddle
  20. sharp — clever
  21. pound — a weight
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. row — a line
  24. pound — for dogs

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