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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  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. court — for sport
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. land — a country
  4. court — of law
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. drill — the tool
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. drill — army training
  10. current — of water
  11. land — to come down
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cold — an illness
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. cold — not warm
  17. court — of a king
  18. current — happening now
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. drill — a practice
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. land — ground
  23. current — electric
  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