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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. pound — a weight
  9. cold — not warm
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. bark — to shout
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. branch — a division
  14. kid — to tease
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. kid — child
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pitch — completely
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. coach — a trainer

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