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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 116 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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. kid — child
  3. shower — to wash
  4. chair — a leader
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. band — a ring
  8. staff — a stick
  9. band — a music group
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. race — humankind
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pass — a permit
  16. staff — employees
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. race — a contest
  19. bark — to shout
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. kid — to tease
  22. race — the arms race
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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