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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. lean — to bend
  3. chest — of your body
  4. spell — magic
  5. kid — child
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bear — the animal
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bat — the animal
  10. spell — a short time
  11. spell — letters
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. lean — thin
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. bear — the animal
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — in an idiom

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