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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. foot — a measure
  3. spring — the season
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. plane — a tool
  6. spring — a coil
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. file — a tool
  9. pound — a weight
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. snap — to click
  12. spring — of water
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. file — a document
  17. kid — to tease
  18. bark — to shout
  19. file — a line of people
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. kid — child
  24. pound — for dogs

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