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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. cue — a signal
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. pound — a weight
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. season — of the year
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cue — for pool
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. cue — a hint
  22. bark — to shout
  23. season — in sport
  24. kid — child

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