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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 116 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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. bass — low music
  5. bark — to shout
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. cell — a phone
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bass — the fish
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. file — a line of people
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. file — a document
  19. chair — a leader
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. kid — child
  23. file — a tool
  24. vault — a safe

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