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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. bark — to shout
  3. rash — hasty
  4. shower — to wash
  5. rash — a series
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. ball — a great time
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. cold — not warm
  13. capital — a city
  14. shower — rain
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. capital — money
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. ball — a dance

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