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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. root — the cause
  5. cap — of ice
  6. track — a song
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. root — of a plant
  10. bark — to shout
  11. kid — child
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. root — of a word
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cap — a lid
  17. track — a path
  18. cap — a hat
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. bear — the animal
  21. bear — the animal
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. track — to keep track
  24. bat — for baseball

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