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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. cold — not warm
  7. drill — the tool
  8. bark — to shout
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. spell — a short time
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. spell — magic
  18. wax — to grow
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. drill — army training
  22. spell — letters
  23. drill — a practice
  24. wax — for sculpting

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