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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 120 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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. key — the most important part
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. current — electric
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bound — certain
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bound — obliged
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. saw — the tool
  15. wound — an injury
  16. current — happening now
  17. saw — the tool
  18. kid — to tease
  19. wound — an injury
  20. current — of water
  21. key — in music
  22. bound — tied together
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. kid — child

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