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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. swing — to play on
  3. present — a gift
  4. kid — child
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. present — there
  8. kid — to tease
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cell — a phone
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cell — in biology
  13. drill — army training
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. drill — a practice
  18. drill — the tool
  19. swing — music
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. swing — in golf
  23. present — the time now
  24. cold — not warm

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