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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. tube — the underground
  3. kid — child
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. kid — to tease
  6. ground — the earth
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. ground — crushed
  12. wind — moving air
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — not warm
  16. chest — of your body
  17. tube — a container
  18. board — a committee
  19. ground — a position
  20. board — to get on
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bark — to shout
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cold — the Cold War

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