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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 124 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. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. row — to paddle
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. pass — a permit
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. cold — not warm
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. kid — child
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kick — in football
  17. bark — to shout
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. row — a line
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. spell — letters
  22. spell — a short time
  23. spell — magic
  24. cold — an illness

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