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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. shower — rain
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. kid — to tease
  6. tube — a container
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. mate — a partner
  10. shower — to wash
  11. current — of water
  12. cold — an illness
  13. kid — child
  14. cold — not warm
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. current — electric
  17. mate — to breed
  18. bark — to shout
  19. mate — a friend
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. current — happening now
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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