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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. saw — the tool
  3. mate — a partner
  4. saw — the tool
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. drill — the tool
  7. root — of a word
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. drill — a practice
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. hand — help
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bear — the animal
  15. kid — child
  16. mate — a friend
  17. root — the cause
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. kid — to tease
  20. root — of a plant
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. drill — army training
  23. mate — to breed
  24. hand — in cards

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