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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. kid — child
  5. shower — rain
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bark — to shout
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. kid — to tease
  13. race — a contest
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. race — humankind
  16. shower — to wash
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. race — the arms race
  20. mine — for digging
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. stem — to come from

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