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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. spring — a coil
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. shower — rain
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. wind — moving air
  13. shower — to wash
  14. kid — child
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. bark — to shout
  17. scale — in music
  18. scale — size or range
  19. spring — of water
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — a phone
  22. spring — the season
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. wind — moving air

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