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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mug — to rob
  4. chest — a box
  5. prune — to trim
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. mug — a face
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bark — to shout
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. wake — a trail
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. mug — a cup
  24. chest — of your body

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