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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. bark — to shout
  3. stem — to come from
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bulb — for light
  9. mine — for digging
  10. wind — moving air
  11. kid — child
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. shower — to wash
  14. root — of a word
  15. root — of a plant
  16. root — the cause
  17. shower — rain
  18. wind — moving air
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. kid — to tease
  22. bulb — for light
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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