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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. hand — in cards
  3. current — of water
  4. hand — help
  5. tear — to rip
  6. current — electric
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cell — in biology
  16. game — wild animals
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. bark — to shout
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. current — happening now
  21. game — a match
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. cell — a phone
  24. calf — a young animal

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