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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. bark — to shout
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cell — a phone
  7. lean — to bend
  8. kid — child
  9. cold — not warm
  10. craft — a skill
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. root — the cause
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. root — of a word
  16. cold — an illness
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. craft — boats
  19. lean — thin
  20. perch — the fish
  21. root — of a plant
  22. kid — to tease
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cold — the Cold War

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