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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. rash — a series
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. bat — the animal
  6. lean — thin
  7. degree — from a university
  8. rash — hasty
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — the season
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. lean — to bend
  17. fall — to drop
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. degree — temperature
  20. kid — child
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bark — to shout

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