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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. land — ground
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. land — to come down
  6. hand — in cards
  7. rash — hasty
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. hand — help
  11. bark — to shout
  12. rash — a series
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. pound — a weight
  18. saw — the tool
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. land — a country
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. calf — of the leg

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