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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. snap — to click
  3. band — a ring
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cell — in biology
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. date — the fruit
  18. cell — a phone
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. cold — not warm
  24. band — a music group

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