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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. shower — rain
  5. last — finally
  6. bark — to shout
  7. pound — a weight
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. sharp — clever
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. last — to go on
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. kick — in football
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. content — happy
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. last — final

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